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HIS pamphlet is the result of the Chapter's 
work for the year 1903 and 1904, in carry- 
ing out a programme suggested by me, as 
I felt Somerset County women had so much history 
to work upon. 

The many incidents which are recorded in these 
pages will live long after we have been enrolled in 
the list of descendants with the good men and 
women of the Revolutionary days. 

CIvARA S. WE ART, 

Regent. 



OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF 

General Frelinghuysen Chapter, D. A. R. 

{Elected June 3, 1904). 

Regent, Mrs. Spencer Weart. 
First Vice-Regent, Mrs. Hugh B. Reed. 
Second Vice-Regent, Mrs. Geo. W. Sanborn. 
Secretary, Miss Caroline J. Otis. 
Treasurer, Miss E. Gertrude Nevius. 
Registrar, Miss Louise Anderson. 
Historian, Miss Josephine E. Demaray. 



Mrs. E. E. Batcheller Jerome, 
Mrs. Wm. Leupp van der Veer, 
Mrs. D. P. Peeke, 
Mrs. P. M. B. Swinton, 
Mrs. Francis S. van der Veer, 
Miss Annie P. Davenport, 
Mrs. C. H. Bateman, 
Mrs. Sylvanus Ayres, Jr., 
Mrs. Alexander McWilliam, 



Mrs. Henry Hardwicke, 
Mrs. L. C. Mack, 
Miss Anna V. Nevius, 
Mrs. Cliarles J. Smith, 
Mrs. D. V. B. Hegeman, 
Miss May D. Hartwell, 
Mrs. C. A. Whitenack, 
Mrs. John B. Osbourn, 
Mrs. James T. Birdsall. 



A Summer Afternoon on the Millstone Long Ago. 

By MISS ANNA V. NEVIUS. 

One bright July afternoon, in the year 1792, a little colored 
girl named Nancy, ran slyly down the bank from the Hoagland 
residence on the east side of the Millstone River. She was going 
to "Grandpa Van Doren's" on the opposite side of the river, as 
she had often heard her master's children tell of the good times 
they had at "Grandpa's." The river which flowed between was no 
obstacle to her, for she had been taught to swim, and on a Sum- 
mer day like this she gracefully swam across, delighted with so 
easy a way. One coarse garment was all she wore, and that dried 
quickly. Perhaps she enjoj'ed hearing the accounts of more stir- 
ring days fifteen years before, of which Grandpa Van Doren's 
family talked. For this was the house where Washington and 
his men spent the night when on their march to Pluckamin. On 
this farm also, the Hessians established a hospital for their sick and 
wounded during the war. Mrs. Van Doren at one time was taken 
a prisoner by the British, a rope put around her neck, and ordered 
to disclose certain things relative to the enemy. The attempt was 
unsuccessful, and she was released. Another account is that she 
was hung by her heels in the cellar until she was black in the face. 
The night Washington was there a neighbor brought him a 
bowl of mush and milk. The bowl is in the Wallace House. The 
neighbor was Mrs. Sutphen, whose husband had so carefully hid- 
den the clock which is also in the Wallace House. This clock was 
shipped to Mr. Sutphen as a gift from friends in Holland, several 
years after he emigrated. Therefore it was highly prized by the 
family. So when the war began they took it apart and hid the 
boards of the case in the rafters of their smoke house. Then made 
a secure box for the brass works and dropped them to the bottom 
of the river just above Blackwell's Mills. How glad the people 
must have been to see their treasures all back in the accustomed 
places after the dangerous war was over. 

But Little Nancy's time is up and she must return as she came, 
so that she may dry her dress in a sunny place that her stern mas- 
ter may not know where she has been. The canal was not built 
until many years after, so she only had to cross the pretty 
meadow and run up the hill to the same substantial house where 
nearly a century later we enjoyed hearing her tell of those mem- 
ories, and of how she would go early mornings to watch the wild 



deer come cautiously from a nearby thicket to drink at the never- 
faihng spring. And, sometimes, there were bear tracks. 

The Hoagland house was built in a dense woods in 1763. 

Nancy died about twelve years ago, known to have been 108 
years old. 



The Berrian Mansion and Its Surroundings. 

By MRS. LEUPP VAN DER VEER. 

Historic memories cluster about many old mansions in New 
Jersey; but perhaps to none can greater interest be attached than 
to the venerable colonial house in Somerset County, known as the 
Washington Headquarters at Rocky Hill. The building stands on 
an eminence with a broad outlook to the distant mountains over a 
beautiful valley, through which pass the Delaware and Raritan 
Canal and the Pennsylvania Railroad. To the north the view 
reaches to the Watchung Mountains, to the west nine miles distant 
the historic Hopewell Valley, and four miles to the southwest is 
Princeton. 

All this part of New Jersey is full of associations with the 
Revolutionary struggle. Armed men were constantly seen march- 
ing through the valley, and General Washington himself passed 
through Rocky Hill on his way to fight the battle of Monmouth. 
In the Summer of 1783, while Congress was holding its session in 
Princeton, the handsome house on the hill known as the Berrian 
mansion, was selected as headquarters for the Commander-in- 
Chief of the army. It was the home of Mrs. Berrian. the widow 
of Judge Berrian, a famous magistrate and third judge of New 
Jersey. This distinguished man was born in 171 1. died in 1772, 
and was buried in Princeton. 

From August 24th, 1783, until November loth of the same 
year, General Washington occupied this mansion, and it was dur- 
ing this time that he wrote his short but most touchingly worded 
"Farewell Address" to his army, which is dated November 2nd, 
1783, Rocky Hill, near Princeton. Mrs. Washington came to 
Rocky Hill with the General and they were visited by many noted 
personages, among them being several artists. One of them was 
Joseph Wright, who painted a portrait of Washington to be 
sent to France. Another artist, Dunlap, (whose brother-in-law 
was Darght, of Yale College) also painted a portrait of the Com- 
mander-in-Chief. 

A force of between 300 and 400 soldiers accompanied Wash- 
ington to Rocky Hill, who are supposed to have come from New 
England, and generally to have been sea-faring men. A fact that 



corroborates this belief is that they spent their leisure time carving 
ships about five inches long on the boards of the house. From 
the number of designs one would imagine they were vieing with 
each other in displaying their skill. The rooms of the headquar- 
ters are furnished by different societies. The parlor is the Prince- 
ton room. The Spinnet was once the property of Lord Stirling, 
who settled in Peapack, and was found only a few years ago where 
it had been buried for safety. 

Lord Stirling's family name was Alexander. His descendants 
are now residing in New York. The fire place contains the same 
andirons that were used there by the Berrians. A wash-bowl of 
pewter is a most interesting relic, it being the one used by Wash- 
ington all through the war. In the bowl is engraved by Trimber a 
portrait of the General. A goblet once the property of Thomas 
Jefferson, engraved on which is Monticello, and on the opposite 
side the old mill. The dining room is furnished by the ladies of 
Trenton. The wine cooler was the property of Lord Baltimore. 
The old oak beams and deep window seats make the room most 
quaint. The room to the north is the Lawrenceville or Trent 
Chapter room, and the registering room contains a grand old tall 
clock. The register shows that over 2,000 guests have visited the 
headquarters since the building was opened. Ascending the stairs 
you enter the large room always known as the blue room or re- 
ception room. It was here that General Washington wrote his 
"Farewell Address," which he delivered from the balcony to his 
soldiers encamped there. Many distinguished guests were enter- 
tained at this place, as they were through with war, and only 
waiting for the charter of peace to be sent from France, which 
was carried to Princeton October 6th. Across the hall is the Rocky 
Hill room, in which there is framed the orders for General Howe, 
dated November loth, saying all of the furniture and special pa- 
pers of Washington were to be carried to Mount Vernon to be in 
readiness for the General on his return from New York, where he 
delivered the "Farewell Address" December 14th, 1783. 



An Old Historic House, 

By MISS JOSEPHINE E. DEMARAY. 

A modern farm house now stands upon the site of the McCrea 
homestead; it is an ordinary structure, and yet not without beauty, 
owing to its simple lines, and the absence of all that is preten- 
tious. 

Standing upon the very brink of the river, and in the midst of 



the Bedminster hills, the location is lovely, and the surroundings 
suggestive of an English landscape. 

Travellers from Pluckamin to Bedminster will notice half way 
between the villages, a road running westward along the north 
branch of the Raritan River. Turning and following this raad 
they will pass a half mile further on Kline's Mills. Another half 
mile and the McDowell homestead is reached directly opposite 
which, but across the river, lies the old farm, now the property of 
Peter Welsh, Esq., where in 1753, just one hundred and fifty years 
ago, was born Jane McCrea, the young girl whose death at the 
hands of the savages employed by Burgoyne during the Revolu- 
tion, was to thrill with horror the entire country. 

The old house was demolished about forty years ago. The 
original foundation remains, and if we can trust our own judg- 
ment, the small west wing containing the great dining room and 
kitchen, with their capacious chimneys and low studding must also 
have formed part of the old house. In her girlhood, Jeannie is 
said to have occupied a small bed room overlooking the river, and 
in the rooms of the Historical Society of New Jersey are pre- 
served some pieces of an oaken beam taken from this room when 
the house was torn down. 

Two dilapidated little buildings near the house, evidently of 
great age, cannot fail to interest the visitor; the larger of these 
is said to have been the minister's study — whatever its former lofty 
rank, it has now descended to the humble state of a shelter for 
the fowls — the smaller is used for a smoke house. 

At the time of her death, Jane McCrea was twenty-four 
years old. From various sources we learn that she was very 
beautiful. Burgoyne having described her as "a young lady lovely 
to the sight, of virtuous character and amiable disposition." 

Her father, the Rev. James McCrea, was in his time a prom- 
inent man; the family well known and highly respected, and yet 
but little interest would now attach to the name had it not been 
for Jane, whose devotion to her lover cost her her life. 

To go back a little, in 1740, a call for Rev. Mr. McCrea was 
presented to the Presbytery from the people of Lametunk, Leb- 
anon, Peapack, Readington and Bethlehem, which he accepted; 
at first the parsonage was on the west side of Lamington River. 
It may interest members of the old First Dutch Church of the 
Raritans to know that this house was a little later removed and 
joined to another, in which on November 15, 1800, the Rev. Abram 
Messier was born. 

We cannot say just when the river farm became the McCrea 
homestead. The mother, Mary Graham, died when Jane was a 
year old; there was another girl much older, who ten years later 
was married to the Rev. John Hanna, and then the child of 
eleven was left with her father and three brothers in the old house 



by the river. It must have been a lonely home for a little girl, 
but there were neighbors then, as now, and very near lived a large 
and delightful family — a widow named Jones, with six children, 
all boys. 

A recent writer has given us some pleasant pictures, real or 
imaginary of the two families. 

The children were constant companions, Jane, the only girl 
among the nine stalwart boys. They worked and played and 
studied together; together they attended the log school house in 
the woods, the very site of which has since disappeared; they 
filled like one family the great farm wagon in which they drove 
to church, and at the close of the somber puritanical Sunday, were 
together catechised by the father and pastor. Time passed on; 
the children were growing up; the older boys became more and 
more engrossed in the farm labors. The youngest, David, and the 
little Jane, were thrown more and more together. A few more 
years and all was changed, the children had blossomed into 
womanhood and manhood, the sweet old childish days were 
gone, and David and Jane were lovers. 

And then still greater changes; the father died, the old home 
was broken up and the title passed to strangers. The brothers 
had married and gone to distant homes, and with John, who set- 
tled on the Hudson, near Fort Edward, went Jeannie, and there 
the remainder of her short life was spent; but happily spent for 
in the vicinity were the same old neighbors, Mrs. Jones having 
also left Bedminster and taken up her abode five miles above 
Fort Edward. 

We hear of the lovers meeting on the banks of the lovely 
Hudson that John Burroughs has so aptly termed "Our river," 
when at the close of a day of toil David would row down the 
stream to spend a long evening with his betrothed. It is easy to 
picture their meetings upon many a moonlight night; probably 
they were dreaming of, even planning for a little home among the 
Bedminster hills, dear always to both, as only one's birthplace and 
childhood's home can ever be. But if so those dreams were 
destined never to be realized. 

It was a time of peril, and even the peaceful dwellers beside 
the quiet Hudson must be ever on the watch, for the Revolution 
was at its height. Sadder still for the lovers, a coldness had 
sprung up between the families; time only intensified this feeling, 
and when John McCrea learned of David's intention to join the 
British army, he sternly forbade the young man his house . 

The remainder of the sad story is soon told. It was the Sum- 
mer of 1777. Burgoyne was in Canada, the strength of his army 
greatly augmented by the savages who had taken up arms for the 
British, enticed by bribery and plunder. In June the army began 
its march southward, the commander hoping to seize Ticonde- 



roga, and finally open up communications with Gen. Clinton in 
New York. 

David was with his regiment near Fort Edward. Alarmed for 
the safety of his family, John McCrea prepared to remove to 
Albany. 

David learned of this, and fearing that he might never again 
see his betrothed, succeeded in sending her a message, in which he 
begged her to take refuge with Mrs. McNeil, an old friend of 
both families, whose home was near. Her request to remain was 
willingly granted by her brother, but hearing of the proximity of 
the Indians, and fearing for his sister's safety, she had hardly 
reached Mrs. McNeil's when he sent for her to return. She de- 
layed, and another and more imperative message was sent, which 
reached her on the very day that the Indians began to plunder the 
neighborhood. Mrs. McNeil now made ready to seek safety in 
flight. In the midst of their hurried preparation came the cry that 
the Indians were in sight. It is said that Mrs. McNeil had no time 
to conceal herself, and was seized and dragged to a nearby thicket, 
but left unhurt while the savages proceeded to plunder the house. 

In the cellar they found Jane, dragged her from her hiding 
place, and placed her, almost dead with fright, upon a horse with 
the evident intention of taking her to the British camp. Dashing 
down the hill they were met by an Indian, who with difficulty 
persuaded her captors to give to the girl a paper, which proved to 
be a letter from David Jones, begging her to trust herself to this 
friendly Indian who would bring her safely to the camp, and to 
him. Hope must have filled her heart once more, soon however 
to be dashed to the ground. 

It is supposed the savages quarreled about the rum, which was 
to be their reward for releasing their captive. A violent quarrel 
followed, when in a sudden frenzy of rage the chief of her captors, 
a savage, whose name, Le Loup, well befitted his savage nature, 
turned and dealt her a blow with his tomahawk, causing instant 
death. She was scalped and her body frightfully mutilated, drag- 
ged to a pine tree near the roadside, and there left, covered only 
with a few leaves. 

To the British the Indians delivered Mrs. McNeil in safety, 
while to David was given the scalp of his betrothed with its long 
flowing hair. His grief at her murder, knew no bounds, and he 
always reproached himself as the cause of her death. His hair 
turned white, and for a long time it was thought his mind would 
give way. Deserting the service of King George III., he retired 
to Canada, and there spent the remainder of a long life in great 
seclusion. He never married and was until death released him, a 
morose and gloomy man. 

Several days elapsed before the friends dared return to the 
deserted house. The body of the young girl was found, and there, 

8 



upon the very spot where it lay it was buried beneath the old pine 
tree, the grave marked only by a grassy mound. In 1826 it 
was removed to the burying ground between Fort Edward and 
Sandy Hill, and a few years later, again disinterred and with ap- 
propriate services laid in its present resting place, in Union Hill 
Cemetery, Fort Edward. The grave is marked by a slab of white 
marble, the gift of her niece, Mrs. Sarah H. Payne, a daughter of 
Mary McCrea and Rev. John Hanna. 

It is an historical fact that the widespread indignation caused 
by the brutal murder of Jane McCrea, contributed to the fall of 
Burgoyne at Saratoga, and so hastened the cause of American 
Independence. The McCrea brothers, all three, entered the Ameri- 
can army, and all may be said to have laid themselves upon the 
altar of their country. The two older were killed at Saratoga, 
while Stephen, the youngest, died from a wound received in a 
skirmish while surgeon in the army. 
December 4th, 1903. 



Pluckemin and Vicinity. 

By MRS. P. M. B. SWINTON. 

The origin of the name Pluckemin is involved in much ob- 
scurity; as its earliest inhabitants were too busily engaged in 
subduing the soil for their descendants to keep journals of inter- 
esting events. The first documentary record of the name occurs 
in an old Road-book in the Somerville Clerk's office under date of 
August 19, 1755. Of all the various legends concerning the deriva- 
tion of the name, the following would seem the most plausible: 

Among the immigrants who came to America in the year 1708 
was a band of Reformed Presbyterians composed of the Grierson 
family with their retainers, who had left a small hamlet in Gallo- 
way, Scotland, by the name of Pluckemin. Although these landed 
in Virginia, it is almost certain that some of the little band moved 
north, and settling in the hills near the Raritan, called their new 
home by the name of their birth-place. 

There have been many fantastic conjectures as to the der- 
ivation of the name of Pluckemin; but inasmuch as the two 
places just mentioned are the only ones in the world by that name, 
it would seem that the foregoing is more reasonable than the al- 
leged corruption of the Algonquin word usually given in his- 
tories. 

A map of 1747 on file among the Elizabeth Town records 
shows that Dr. Lewis Johnstone had been granted a land patent 
to part of the tract where Pluckemin now stands, and also that in 



December, 1727, Margaret Teeple bought the first farm sold in this 
vicinity — about 200 acres — east of the present village. 

Other early settlers were Jacob Eoflf in 1756 from Holland, 
and John Powelson in 1767, and a little later Wm. Gaston, Abram 
Brown and Matthew Lane, all of Scotch-Irish descent. 

In 1750, Jacob Eoff established an inn, the first place of pub- 
lic entertainment erected in the township; his son, Christian, built 
on the opposite corner the famous hostelry known as the "Bar- 
racks," which was located on the site where "Kenilworth Inn" 
now dispenses hospitality. 

As early as 1720, the settlers, who were of a religious nature, 
had erected a log church in Washington Valley near the junction 
of the three roads, leading to Liberty Corner, Pluckemin, and 
Martinsville, which was called the church of "Rartian in the Hills." 
It was in this little log church on the mountain side that the first 
Synod of the Lutheran Church on American soil was held, Au- 
gust 20, 1735. After forming a more substantial organization 
known as St. Paul's Church the Lutherans built a stone edifice a 
little to the south-east of the present Presbyterian Church. This 
church of St. Paul was dedicated in 1758 and dismantled in De- 
cember, 1776, by the British cavalry when they raided the village 
and visited all manner of indignities on the people. We next hear 
of St. Paul's as the prison of 230 British soldiers, who were con- 
fined there during the stay of Washington subsequent to the battle 
of Princeton. At this time Captain Wm. Leslie of the British 
army was buried in the church-yard with military honors by the 
Americans. His grave is still visible. 

Some of the British officers were confined under guard in the 
house now occupied by John Fenner. Several panes of glass from 
this house covered with initials and drawings are now preserved 
in the home of the writer. 

The patriots encamped at the base of the mountain, now the 
property of Andrew Compton; where a military park was estab- 
lished with huts and other necessary buildings. There was also 
erected at this time the spacious structure known as the Academy, 
enclosing a room 50 by 30 feet, having an arched ceiling. This 
building furnished the 1,670 men comprised in 49 companies with 
an agreeable rendezvous during the long and dreary nights they 
passed in winter-quarters there. 

Gen. Washington's advent after the battle of Princeton caused 
great excitement in the village and that of his wife an equal 
amount of curiosity when she was driven into the village in a 
coach drawn by four horses. She had come from Virginia to meet 
her husband and her plainness of attire surprised the inhabitants. 

At this time Gen. Knox and wife were living about one and a 
half miles from the camp, at the Ludlow place, just below the 
site of the former Bedminster church. This house is still stand- 



ing, and although slightly modernized, is now the mecca of many 
D. A. R.'s and others interested in such subjects. 

Gen. Knox's genial manner soon made him a favorite with all, 
and his wife's gracious and winning ways added greatly to the 
social life of the community during the winter. Frequently she 
and her guests, young women of social prominence, visited the 
Academy and gave afternoon teas and other entertainments to the 
gallant oflficer.s. The most notable of these gatherings was held on 
the night of February i8, under the direction of Knox. This was 
the first fete of the kind ever held in the State and was attended 
by about 70 ladies and 300 or 400 gentlemen; Gen. Washington 
and wife coming from Philadelphia to attend. The General opened 
the ball with Mrs. Knox, and the dignified dances of the time were 
indulged in until day-break. 

Gen. Knox's days here were not all happiness; for his daugh- 
ter's death caused him great sorrow which was intensified by the 
quarrel with the bigoted consistory of the Reformed Church, who 
would not permit his daughter to be buried in the church-yard. 
This Reformed congregation soon supplanted St. Paul's, which 
does not appear in history after 1800. 

Among the most interesting of the relics of colonial times are 
the altar-cloth of St. Paul's, now in the possession of the pastor 
of the present Pluckemin church; and the inscription-stone which 
has recently been discovered, one part in an old cistern and the 
other part in the foundation of a cellar; and having been cemented 
together and framed, adorns the front of the Presbyterian Church 
at Pluckemin, which was formed in 1851 after unsuccessful efforts 
on the part of the Methodists and Dutch Reformed denominations 
to minister to the spiritual needs of this now quiet rural com- 
munity. 



The Latourette House. 

Known as Staats House During the Occupancy of Major General 
Steuben, with a Brief Sketch of the "Baron." 

By MISS MARY D. HARTWELL. 

Northward the forest-covered blue hills turreted against the 
sky. In the valley flows the Raritan broadened out into wide ex- 
panse, and where it bends away in long curves we reach the Wes- 
tern bank in a canoe, hand hewn from some great tree. Crossing 
the roadway which was destined to become in 1830 a highway of 
commerce, we reach the wide open gate with its three hundred 
acres. The commencement of the canal, 1824, necessitated a 



change of entrance, the ancient outbuildings were torn down to 
make way for the present shady lane, and new substantial ones 
erected in the rear. The house, a low rambling structure, was built 
by a Staats in 1700. Sold before the Revolution to Abraham 
Staats a true American patriot, who for the cause of liberty shared 
his home with Baron Steuben, Major General of the American 
forces, who arrived the 26th of March, 1779, and while the army of 
7,000 men was at Mt. Pleasant his headquarters were here. We 
notice the low ceilings with heavy hewn beams, the broad stairway 
protected by a "long gun" with its six feet of musketry, ever ready 
to serve its master, for the British and Tories were his bitter ene- 
mies. The room on the right, the windows of which had a south- 
ern aspect, also ones looking east toward the river, which latter 
were closed in modern times by the addition of a spacious wing, 
furnished as are all the rooms, with rare beautiful colonial pieces 
that were in use during Steuben's possession. The front room 
and the adjoining back one were occupied by the distinguished 
Prussian, however not one by birth, for Germany claims that 
honor, while his staff and personal attendants were quartered in 
a Marquee built in the blossoming orchard back of the house. 

Thus on an afternoon in the late Spring, 1779, we look en- 
chanted upon a stretch of green, shaded by willows and elms, that 
bore aloft a canopy of clinging vines, that made many a shelter 
for a bivouac and evening encampment. The disclosed half 
burned embers of fire place and kettles are curiously gazed at a 
century later. We walk along with the sunlight and shadows danc- 
ing on stiff quaint box hedges with its glossy foliage and the air 
redolent with the perfume of honeysuckle. Each side of the main 
entrance a mass of blossoms, while overhead the trellis, on which 
swayed small yellow and white rose buds bursting into color. 
Neglect of conquering forces and the slow decay of years have 
obliterated much, some few of the trees bear foliage, but not in the 
luxury of the sweet days of long ago, and the wind whistles around 
the corners and eaves begrimmed by the advance of time; but 
those great bull's eye glasses in the broad double door, what 
evidence of strength is there! The romance and history that cling 
to their unimpaired vision as they welcome the third century with 
four years to her credit! 

In Revolutionary days Philadelphia and the near-by camps 
surpassed all others in lavishness. Gen. Green at the Van Veghten 
house "declared the luxury of Boston an infant babe to that of 
Philadelphia and its vicinity," and Gen. Wayne wrote, "We are 
all gayety and every lady and gentleman endeavors to outdo the 
other in splendor and show." 

And now of our host — a little by way of introduction. 

Baron Steuben on the ist of December, 1777, in the 47th year 
of his age. arrived at Portsmouth, N. H., where every honor was 



showered upon him. January 14th, he left Boston for Valley 
Forge. He had written Washington requesting permission to 
enter the army as a volunteer, adding "Your excellency is the 
only person under whom, after having served under the King of 
Prussia, I could wish to persue an art to which I have wholly 
given up myself." 

At Lancaster, Pa., a great ball was given for him, but when 
reaching camp he declined all the honors thrust upon him, saying 
he "was only a volunteer." "The whole army," said Washington, 
"would stand sentinel for such volunteers!" 

The French ministers after sending arms and moneys, aware 
of the weak point of the American army, had chosen their man 
well, an experienced scientific soldier who could drill the undisci- 
plined troops to enable them to contend against a well-equipped 
organized enemy. 

His military experience and talents were well known having 
served through the seven years' war under Frederick the Great. 

At Valley Forge the second day, the troops were mustered 
and a temporary department of inspection was organized with the 
Baron placed at the head; and the moment instruction began no 
time or pains were spared to promote the object he had in view, 
and in nothing does Steuben's superiority to a mere martinet ap- 
pear than in his passing the manual by and beginning with man- 
oeuvres. The sight of the men advancing, retreating, attacking 
with the bayonet, changing front, and all with promptness and 
precision made an impression. 

The actors, too, moved by a common impulse and learned from 
the start to look with double confidence upon the man who had 
awakened them to a consciousness of their deficiencies. 

His success easily explained, heart in his work, up before day, 
smoked a single pipe, swallowed a cup of strong cofifee, his hair 
precisely dressed, uniform carefully put on; then as the first sun- 
beam appears is in the saddle and off for the parade ground. 

No waiting for loitering aids there! 

Washington said, "A gentleman, a man of military knowledge, 
and with a knowledge of the world, without which the highest 
military learning would be of no avail." 

We remember at Monmouth at the sound of Steuben's voice, 
Lee's broken ranks rallied and wheeled into line under heavy fire, 
as calmly and precisely as if the battle field had been a parade 
ground. 

Just previous to joining the troops at Middlebrook, March 
26th, Steuben finished his military work, "The System of Discipline 
for the Army," which with slight variations is used to-day. It was 
submitted to the perusal of the Commander-in-Chief, 26th of 
February, and meeting with his approval was adopted by a resolu- 
tion of Congress March 29th. Steuben was anxious to have two 

13 



copies richly bound for Washington and the French Minister, but 
in all Philadelphia not enough gold leaf could be found to gild 
them. 

Returning to the Staats House, where in his apartment to-day 
from the huge fire place across the room filled as a little garden, 
came the breath of tiowers, above the two-branched silver can- 
delabra fastened to the carved panels, while gracing the shelf were 
two Dresden figures, Minerva and Milton, presented to the hostess. 
Lady Staats, by the New Brunswick storekeepers for allowmg 
them to hide their treasures beneath the flooring of the stable as 
their city was at different times the headquarters of each of the op- 
posing armies. 

On the wall opposite the mantel hung two pastel portraits, 
Margaret Du Boise of France, and Abraham Staats of Hol- 
land. 

Through the wide open windows could be seen be-wigged 
dandies in long coats of color, walking about paying court to the 
powdered and "patched" beauties gathered on the lawn. 

Baron Steuben heartly enjoying playing host, presents his 
guests, for whom this entertainment is given; Monsieur Girard, 
also Don Juan de Miralles a distinguished Spaniard. 

The Baron writes of the day: "During my stay in Philadel- 
phia I became very intimate with M. Girard, the French Minister, 
whose departure for Europe I very much regret, he honored me 
with a visit to camp, where he came expressly for that purpose. 
He was received with all the honors of an ambassador. On the 
day after his arrival, I ordered a manoeuvre with eight regiments 
•of infantry and sixteen guns. After the military display, he, in 
company with the Commander-in-Chief and all the other generals 
and colonels; more than sixty persons partook of a dinner at my 
headquarters." 

The Baron was formerly aid-de-camp to Frederick the Great, 
King of Prussia, from whom he received the gorgeous gold med- 
als set in diamonds, which he always wore suspended from his 
coat. His magnificent apparel, "lace and ruffle and epaulet," with 
powdered hair worn in a queue. His countenance showed energy 
and benevolence, nose almost aquiline, stature s feet 7 inches, 
haughty in his bearing. Every inch a soldier as he stood beside 
the French Minister in a heavily embroidered satin coat with 
splendid jewels and many decorations; and Don Juan De Miralles 
in a crimson suit with cloth of gold. 

Steuben's staff officers were much in demand, and in his choice 
of aids he was most fortunate, and the mutual affection and con- 
fidence that prevailed among the members of the little family gave 
him, bachelor that he was, and residing in a strange country, all 
the comforts of domestic life. 

Du Ponceau, 19 years of age, his private secretary, for Steuben's 

14 



difficulties were increased by his ignorance of the English language, 
Major Benjamin Walker (25 years) his first aid-de-camp, was 
hardly ever absent from his side, and between Captain Wm. North, 
another aid-de-camp and himself, existed an attachment like that 
of father and son. James Fairlie, a youth of 21 was his aid at Mon- 
mouth; he afterwards married a daughter of Chief Justice Yates 
of Albany. The mutual affection of his aids continued to cheer 
him till the close of his life. He was known for his generosity and 
kindness of heart, frequently sharing his last dollar with the suf- 
fering soldier. 

A tremor of excitement is felt, for far down the road 
a cloud of dust arose and soon alighting from a coach-and-four 
were General and Lady Washington, the former with grace and 
dignity has spoken to all the distinguished guests, his 6 feet 2 
inches, unrivalled save by Col. Alexander Scammel, make him a 
gallant figure of a man. Steuben with rich waist coat and sparkling 
knee buckles, crosses the room and reaching out a jeweled snuff 
box from the silken pocket of his coat, extended it to young Wil- 
liam Colfax standing by the side of Mrs. Washington, whose heavy 
hair and full round form bewitched four-year-old Elizabeth, the 
baby of the house, for whom she had sent to sit on her lap. 
General and Mrs. Green were heartily welcomed, the latter a 
handsome, accomplished woman, well versed in the French 
language and its literature, consequently popular with the foreign 
officers. Showing Pierre Du Ponceau a lovely silver pom- 
ander pierced with holes through which the sweet perfume 
escapes she presents him to her guest, Miss Cornelia Lott, of 
Morristown, wearing a furbelowed scarf of gauze over a white 
dimity with chintz borders; quite a contrast to the heavy damasks 
and brocaded silks, examples preserved prove them unrivalled by 
modern products. Henry Laurens, a wealthy Southerner, and An- 
thony Wayne, from Mt. Pleasant, joined them. 

In the marquee, under the pink apple blossoms, the sunlight on 
the falling petals reflected on quaint silks and satins, wondrous 
rainbow hues worn by Mrs. Knox and Betsey and Sallie Winslow, 
her Boston guests, while the General and Major Shaw and Captain 
Lillie of the same town were by their side. General Muhlenberg on 
a white charger draws rein and speaks with Miss Betsy Livingston 
with Ashbel Green, who, as the horseman departs, speaking of 
Steuben says: "Never before have I had such an impression of the 
ancient fabled god of war, as when I looked on the Baron; he 
seems a perfect personification of Mars. The trappings of the 
horse, the enormous holsters of his pistols, his large size and his 
strikingly martial aspect all seem to favor the idea." 

As Steuben's "Discipline for the Army" had just been com- 
pleted, an important group was inside discussing the manual where 
congratulations were exchanged. Washington said, "It was your 

15 



excellent management that has so greatly improved the troops that 
at Monmouth turned a disgraceful commencement of a day into one 
of victory and success!" Alexander Hamilton, 22 years old, slight 
and undersized, but with very courtly manners said, "I was struck 
with the change, I had never known or conceived the value of 
Military Discipline till that day." "General, that was the only 
time I ever heard you swear," said LaFayette, (a statement much 
disputed in later days). "My evidence," said Steuben, "before the 
court martial, respecting Lee's column, induced that gentlemen 
to make some remarks! This was my letter, 'You cast indecent re- 
flections on my account. Were I in my own country where my repu- 
tation is long ago established, I should put myself above your 
epigrams, but here a stranger, I desire you to give me satisfaction. 
Choose the place, time and arms as near and as soon as possible.' " 
Hamilton after reading Lee's answer said, "certainly a very modest 
one, and proves that he has no violent appetite for so close a 
tete-a-tete as you seemed disposed to insist upon." 

With much laughter they turn to General Frelinghuysen and 
ask him what he thinks of his large portrait outside of the tavern? 
"I am in good company, for Gen. Washington on horseback is a 
large swinging sign not far ofT." The Stocktons from Princeton, the 
Clarks and Chancellor Livingston with his three daughters, one 
Mrs. John Jay, drove from Elizabeth, the men in square skirted 
coats, quite a change from the soldier's uniform, turned back in re- 
vers or lapels, held with buttons for convenience sake. With the 
Livingstons, a Miss Sheaf (chief) a pretty interesting young woman 
in a white silk, beautifully flowered in lively colors. "I am very hap- 
py" said the Baron, "in being presented to you Mile., although I 
see it at an infinite risk. I have from my youth been cautioned to 
guard against mis-chief, but I had no idea her attractions were so 
powerful." A patch box of gilt set with a tiny mirror, that its fair 
owner might peep to rearrange the becoming patches, caught the 
blush. 

A few days previous Lord and Lady Sterling and sweet Miss 
Kitty had come from Basking Ridge. They were on terms of 
great intimacy with the Baron, as were many other emigrant 
nobles. The daughter in a low cut bodice, with a "modesty piece" 
of fine lace was petting Azor, the Baron's beautiful greyhound, 
brought with him from Europe, doubtless dreaming of the coming 
27th of July, her wedding day to the ex-member of Congress, Wil- 
liam Duer. Her mother's hair, dressed high, "with great quantities 
of colored feathers beside a thousand other things," so the hat left 
behind in a gaily flowered box found later in the attic would have 
been of proper size. 

Out in the marquee, slender stemmed glasses with sparkling 
amber wine are held high as Monsieur Girard lifts his to his host 
with 

16 



"A valiant soul that burned to be. 
In the fore of the fight for Liberty." 

Steuben returns the compUment to a countryman of his guest — the 
Marquis de Lafayette — with: 

"Just another who caught the gleam 
Of the sun of Freedom's rising beam." 

Who bows low in acknowledgment, enveloped in romantic mist. 
(Tradition says his abiding place was on the same river, a mile be- 
low). 

Above the strains of the music of the military band playing 
under the great elms, we overhear as we withdraw from the festive 
scene, the low uttered remarks of two men high in command. 
"Steuben fought in the trenches at Prague thirteen years before 
Lafayette was born, and who, during the longest and bloodiest 
of wars had won a place for himself in the military family of a man 
whose confidence was never given lightly (Frederick the Great"). 

"The services of Lafayette (19) are rather the effect of influence 
and court position than of individual superiority. Steuben is often 
shocked at the young man's unbounded thirst for glory which 
goes so far as to claim for its own satisfaction the merits and deeds 
of others. Steuben's nationality an obstacle, all that he owes to 
position is the opportunity of action, the action itself the fruit of 
his own strong will and a thorough knowledge of his science." 

Steuben was a member of the court-martial on the trial of Ma- 
jor Andre. Upon his suggestion, June 19, 1783, the army ofificers 
stationed at Newburgh organized themselves into an association 
under the name "Society of Cincinnati." 

Another service which he rendered was the formation of plans 
of a military academy. West Point, the outcome. 

Steuben was compelled to depend, even for the necessaries 
of life upon an inadequate and irregular pay. 

Washington wrote, "His finances, he ingenuously confesses 
will not admit of his serving without the incidental emoluments, 
and- Congress, I presume from his character and their own knowl- 
edge of him, will without difficulty gratify him in these particu- 
lars." 

After eight years of struggling with poverty, he obtained a 
final settlement of twenty-five hundred a year. How he suffered 
meanwhile from personal privation and public insult, not merely 
from actual want but from the ever present menace of the mor- 
row, and from the inability to relieve the suffering of others. 

He was at least entitled to a re-payment of the money he had 
advanced. Washington said, "If a foreigner gets nothing by the 

17 



service, he ought not to lose by it." On the day Washington re- 
signed his commission as Commander-in-Chief he wrote this letter: 

My Dear Baron. — Although I have taken frequent opportu- 
nities, in public and private, of acknowledging your great zeal, at- 
tention and ability in forming the duties of your office, yet I wish 
to make use of this last moment of my public life to signify in the 
strongest terms, my entire approbation of your conduct, and to 
express my sense of the obligations the public is under to you for 
your faithful and meritorious services. I beg you will be con- 
vinced, my dear sir, that I should rejoice if it could ever be in my 
power to serve you more essentially, than by expressions of 
regard and affection; but in the mean time I am persuaded you 
will not be displeased with this farewell token of my sincere friend- 
ship and esteem for you. This is the last letter I shall write while 
I continue in the services of my country. 

The hour of my resignation is fixed at twelve to-day. After 
which I shall become a private citizen on the banks of the Po- 
tomac, where I shall be glad to embrace you and to testify the 
great esteem and consideration with which, etc. 
I am my dear Baron, 

GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
Annapolis, 23 Dec, 1783. 

New York State presented Steuben with a tract of land near 
Utica, where he built a log cabin, the home of his declining years, 
passing a portion of the winters in New York city. On No- 
vember 28th, 1794, Steuben died of paralysis, his body wrapped in 
a military cloak, ornamented with the star was interred in the 
neighboring forest, where tall beech trees extend their wide spread 
arms and o'er him blow. In 1824, thirty years after his death, when 
Lafayette visited the United States, and was asked to lay the cor- 
ner stone, he excused himself on some shallow pretext. 

Our dear old hero, with the alien marble above his breast 
sleeps far from his fair homeland, but his name will never die as 
long as the memory of the American Revolution lives. 



John Hart — The Signer. 

By MARY B. SANBORN. 

The first of the Hart family to appear upon the stage of Amer- 
ican history, was John, of Newtown, L. I. 

Of his antecedents, whence he emigrated, or his early history, 
nothing seems to have been discovered except that he first settled 
in Massachusetts, and was the progenitor of the Hart family of New 

18 



Jersey. His will, proved in 1671, name five children — John, Wil- 
liam, Samuel, Sarah and Susan. 

The eldest son, John 2d, died in 1712 or 13. He was a resident 
of Maidenhead, now Lawrenceville, about 1700, but whether he 
died there or returned to Newtown, is not known. He had five 
sons, John, Ralph, Nathaniel, Edward and Joseph. These were 
so unlike in appearance as to have given rise, in after years to the 
idea that they were not of the same family. John, Nathaniel and 
Joseph, with their children, having exceedingly fair complexions, 
and very light hair, while Ralph and Edward and their descen- 
dants were very dark-skinned with black hair, so that they were 
universally designated as the White Harts and the Black Harts. 
To the latter belonged John of Revolutionary fame. However, 
from accounts by their descendants, as also by Nathaniel's will, 
they are proven conclusively to be of one household. It is notice- 
able that the family names were continued from generation to gen- 
eration without a middle letter, causing difficulty in distinguish- 
ing them. Ralph and Edward migrated from Stonington, Conn., 
to Hopewell township, Hunterdon, now Mercer, county, N. J., and 
settled on adjoining farms. Ralph preceded his brother a couple 
of years; the latter arriving about 1713. Edward was a thrifty 
farmer and loyal subject of his king, and prominent in affairs of 
church and State. He it was who raised the company of "Jersey 
Blues" and became their captain. The origin of the title is said 
to be that — quoting ancient phraseology — "upon the formation of 
the company they were furnished by the patriotic females with tow 
frocks and pantaloons dyed blue. The oft-quoted tradition of Cap- 
tain Edward leading his Jersey Blues to Quebec, and fighting 
under Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham, is, in the light of historic 
data, incorrect. Pity to dispel the illusion, but as the battle of 
Quebec occurred in 1759, and, as a deed of conveyance signed by 
his sons John and Daniel prove that their father passed away pre- 
vious to August, 1752, the mistake is obvious. His fourth son, 
John, was of the fourth generation, but the course of events, to- 
gether with his own courage of conviction in permitting those 
events to shape his life, caused him to become in time first of the 
family, "John the Signer." No record of his birth is extant, but 
according to the testimony of descendants he was born at Ston- 
ington, Conn., just prior to the removal of the family to New Jer- 
sey in 1713. One of his granddaughters said she had "often heard 
her grandfather allude to the fact, calling himself a Yankee." 

Before the establishment of the Presbyterian Church at Pen- 
nington, within three miles of which Edward Hart located, he 
carried his son John to Maidenhead, or Lawrenceville, December 
31, 1713, Old Style, or February 10, 1714, New Style, where he was 
baptized by Rev. Jedediah Andrews, pastor of the Presbyterian 
Church, Washington Square, Philadelphia. Edward was a zealous 

19 



supporter of the church and a ruling elder, and was commissioned 
to the Presbytery of Philadelphia to place in the hands of Rev. 
John Guild the call of Pennington congregation. Nothing seems 
to be chronicled concerning the early life of Hon. John. He was 
without military ambition, and took no part in the French-Indian 
wars, but pursued quietly the avocation of a farmer, and was in 
quite independent circumstances when the Revolutionary rumble 
began to be heard throughout the land. Although living in the 
secluded agricultural district of Hunterdon county, he was fully 
conversant with public affairs at home and abroad, and an atten- 
tive observer of the conduct of the British Ministry towards the 
colonies. Says one biographer, *'He tilled the soil, and his mind 
was strong, though little cultivated by. letters," although another 
says, "As his father was a man of property and influence, we may 
suppose the son received, if not a classical, at least as good an 
education as was to be obtained at that time," which fitted him for 
those responsible positions he filled so well. Said Governor Par- 
ker upon the occasion of the dedication of his monument: "At an 
early day he determined what course to pursue. He was among the 
first to advocate resistance to the tyranny of the mother country, 
and in his subsequent career, whether in public or private life, he 
was consistent, steadfast and immovable in the line of duty. For 
a long time he refused to accept ofifice, and it was not until the 
difficulties and dangers that threatened the peace of the colonies 
began to thicken, that he could be induced to separate himself from 
home, which he loved so dearly. In 1761 he was elected a mem- 
ber of the Colonial Legislature, and served continuously until 
1772, a period very important in American history." It soon be- 
came evident that it was necessary to be rid of Governor Frank- 
lin's power, as he was in sympathy with the crown, and controversy 
was bitter between him and the Legislature, growing out of the 
Stamp Act and other measures. Therefore the people of every 
county met and appointed delegates to a convention to put the 
colonies in a position of defence. The first session was held at 
New Brunswick in 1774. Afterwards at other towns, and con- 
tinued in being until July 2d, 1776, when it formed a constitution 
which stood until 1844; deposed Governor Franklin and organ- 
ized a State government which still exists, thus antedating all the 
colonies in independence. The convention assumed the functions 
of legislation, and adopted the title of "Provincial Congress." It 
was perhaps the most important body that ever convened in New 
Jersey. 

During the whole period of its existence, John Hart was a 
delegate from Hunterdon county, and appears to have been a lead- 
ing member, as he served as chairman of several important com- 
mittees. Between the meetings of the Provincial Congress, a 
"Committee of Safety" met in various parts of the colony and per- 



formed the most important and delicate duties. Of this committee 
Mr. Hart was continually a member, and the proceedings show he 
was always in attendance. 

Governor Parker, in the oration before mentioned, spoke as 
follows: "But a station of far greater importance and distinction 
awaited him, one that will transmit to the remotest posterity the 
name of John Hart, and give him an enduring place on the historic 
page. A crisis in American affairs approached. In the character 
of rebels the colonists could not hope to enlist the sympathy or 
aid of European powers; neither was there a sufficient motive to 
command to the fullest extent their own energies; and it became 
necessary for them to assert their nationality. Many were opposed 
to the movement, and it was extremely doubtful up to the day the 
Continental Congress adopted Mr. Lee's resolution, whether in- 
dependence would be declared." 

In February, 1776, the Provincial Congress of New Jersey 
chose five delegates to the Continental Congress, four of whom 
declined to attend because they were unwilling to assume the re- 
sponsibility of the Lee resolution or, in other words, sign the 
"Declaration." Of this number was John DeHart, who has fre- 
quently been confounded with our hero. "Under those circum- 
stances the Provincial Congress met at Burlington in June, 1776, 
and proceeded to elect men of sterner mould, upon whom they 
could rely. Then was chosen Richard Stockton, John Wither- 
spoon, Francis Hopkinson, Abraham Clark and John Hart. They 
voted for the resolution, "but" says an early biographer, "The 
glory in which they are embalmed, culminated when, fully alive' 
to the perils which threatened their property and persons, they af- 
fixed their names to the document, announcing to the world the 
freedom of their country." Governor Parker further said: "This 
man of humble origin, modest and unassuming, without advantages 
of education — a plain farmer — had by his integrity of character, his 
wisdom, his practical sense, and his patriotic zeal, acquired such an 
influence among his colleagues as to be esteemed worthy to stand 
side by side with Jefferson and Adams, Franklin and Rush, Stock- 
ton and Witherspoon, the most eloquent, the most learned, the 
most distinguished statesmen of the land." 

At the first election under the new government in August, 
1776, Hon. John, though still a member of the Continental Con- 
gress, was elected a Member of Assembly from Hunterdon county. 
The first Legislature of New Jersey met at Princeton on August 
23d, and Mr. Hart was elected Speaker of the House without a dis- 
senting voice. 

Going back to the great deed of his life — the historical signa- 
ture — nothing could have seemed more inimical to his private in- 
terests than this act, which was the harbinger of open hostilities; 
for his estate was peculiarly exposed to the fury of the enemy, 



being in the direct line of their pursuit after the retreating 
Americans. Nor was that fury withheld, for the signers every- 
where were marked for vengeance, and the British with their mer- 
cenary allies, the Hessians, had particular instructions to "take 
care of them." They began paying the price of their patriotism. 
Intrepid Mr. Hart suffered more than any of his compeers, be- 
cause his all was within reach of the merciless barbarians. His 
farm was pillaged, his stock and crops consumed by the army; 
his family harassed and driven from home, and he himself com- 
pelled to flee for his life, being hounded from house to house, and 
finally taking refuge in the surrounding mountains, sleeping in 
huts and caves, and sometimes sharing dogs' quarters. 

During this dark period his wife to whom he was devotedly 
attached, had passed away. Being an invalid and not able to be 
removed, she had succumbed to the hardships and excitement of 
the times. Yet the grand old man did not despair. He never 
repented the course he had taken, and after the victories at Tren- 
ton and Princeton and hope began to dawn in the hearts of the 
patriots, he summoned the Legislature, which during the Summer 
and Autumn of 1776 had fled from place to place before the invad- 
ing host, and finally dissolved at Haddonfield, to assemble at 
Trenton on January 22d, 1777. That body manifested its appre- 
-ciation of his services by again electing him Speaker, a position he 
filled until failing health compelled him to resign, and on May 11, 
1779, the spirit triumphant invested him with peace far more to 
be desired than that which a few more years of life and strife 
would have enabled him to enjoy — the "peace that knows no 
measure." His weary worn body was laid to rest in the family 
and neighborhood burying-ground, on the farm of John Price 
Hunt, four or five miles distant from his home. As the earth 
closed over his remains, the bearers, as was customary at that 
time, placed at the head of the grave, a stone, the gift of nature, 
to mark the spot. But beside the grave that day stood a soldier 
friend, who after the funeral said: "The men of the future will wish 
to know where the body of John Hart is interred." Then with his 
own hand he cut a mark into the stone to identify it. That man was 
Deacon James Hunt, a brother of John P. For eighty-five years 
that rude S'tone was the only marker for the body of one of New 
Jersey's greatest sons. The people were busy with other things. 
But during the Civil War men began to appreciate the defenders of 
their country, and to honor them, both the living and the dead. 
Yes, men and women too, for by that time they began to assert 
their independence, undertaking and accomplishing feats un- 
dreamed of a century before. So it came about that a woman said: 
"The grave of John Hart shall be neglected no longer," and 
through her instrumentality the sentiment grew until in 1865 the 
Legislature made an appropriation for the erection of a monument 

22 



to her devoted son. On the 6th of June, the old tomb was broken 
open, and the dust of his remains reverently gathered and deposited 
in a new resting place — in the yard of the Hopewell Baptist Church, 
where, on July 4th, 1865, the monument was dedicated with impos- 
ing ceremonies. Governor Joel Parker delivering the oration and 
eulogy from which the quotations in this paper were taken, and 
one more of which follows: 

"In the dark hours of 1776, when all seemed lost, that old 
man called together the body over which he presided, and en- 
couraged his desponding associates to take measures for defence, 
and when forced to dissolve the House and fly for his life, a 
fugitive and a wanderer, his faith and courage never forsook him. 
The history of that day does not furnish a more marked or more 
interesting character. Not eloquent or learned, he was gifted with 
strong intellect and sterling common sense; and these, joined with 
great integrity and zealous and untiring patriotism gave him a 
powerful influence over all with whom he was associated. 

"Upon a careful examination of the history of New Jersey 
during, and immediately preceding the Revolutionary War, I am. 
of opinion that John Hart had greater experience in the Colonial 
and State legislation than any of his contemporaries; and that no 
man exercised greater influence in giving direction to the public 
opinion which culminated in independence." 

In his grave was found a lock of hair, a small portion of which 
was placed in a silver case by Mr. Jacob Weart, a native of 
Hopewell, but now of Plainfield; set in a larger frame contain- 
ing the letters of presentation to, and acceptance by the State, 
and now hangs in a corridor of the State Library at Trenton. 

The only likeness of him extant, is a miniature, from which an 
oil painting has been made and hung in Independence Hall, Phila- 
delphia. In personal appearance Mr. Hart was tall and erect, with 
long black hair and dark complexion. His manners were simple, 
though very pleasing, and his life one of unblemished purity. His 
expression, which was somewhat effeminate cast, seems inconsistent 
with such a strong personage. Concerning his religious belief 
there is controversy, both Presbyterians and Baptists claiming 
him. The latter say he was of them, because he gave the land 
where the meeting-house was built, while the Presbyterians say he 
was of their doctrine, having been so baptized and reared; and 
that he gave land for a Baptist Church from his catholicity of spirit. 

One biographer says that a receipt of his as late as 1769 for 
payments of dues in Pennington Presbyterian Church is recorded 
in its books; but admits that he may have attended the Baptist 
Church in his later years, it being so much nearer his home. The 
weight of testimony rather inclines toward the Presbyterian side. 

In the old family Bible is the record of the birth of his chil- 
dren and death of his wife, in John's own hand. Of the latter he 



says: "Oct. 20th, 1776, departed this life in the fifty-fifth year of 
her age — Deborah, wife of John Hart, who left twelve children 
and twenty-two grandchildren behind her." 

Of the children, ten married and had families. Some of the 
sons served in the war, and it is said that three of them acted as 
guides to Washington's army. All the sons left New Jersey within 
ten years after their father's death. 

The homestead farm of noble old John was beautifully located, 
but of that old mansion, where he reared his large family and nur- 
tured them with patriotic principles, not a vestige remains, except a 
few hearth stones of the large fire-place (written about 1840) around 
which we may imagine the family gathered during the long Winter 
evenings, and discoursed with their neighbors — the Stouts, Hunts, 
Houghtons, Goldens and others — the thrilling events through which 
they passed in the times that tried men's souls. Of Mr. Hart's 
business life little is known. Previous to his entrance into public 
life he was much in demand in the discharge of the ofifices which 
inevitably fall to the lot of every enterprising and public spirited 
citizen. 

From 1751 to 1766, he owned a one-half share of the Stony 
Brook mills at Glenmore, and at the time of the Revolution, and 
probably long previous, he owned two-thirds share of the grist 
and fulling mills at Rocky Hill; a son-in-law. Col. John Polhemus, 
owning the other third. The Stony Brook property was sold July 
4th, 1766, the deed being signed by Daniel Hart and John, and 
Deborah Hart, his wife. It is not probable that he had then the 
shadow of an idea that precisely a decade hence he should affix his 
signature to that document which made him famous, and sealed 
the United States for the "Power" of the world. 

September 6, 1779, his executors advertised in the "Trenton 
Gazette," "For Sale — The two-thirds share of three undivided 
lots of land at Rocky Hill with the grist and fulling mills, being a 
part of the estate of John Hart, Esq., of Hopewell." 

Gone from the conflict was that stalwart personage, leaving for 
posterity, besides such tangible evidences of a well-directed life, a 
more abiding legacy — an example of talents conscientiously applied 
— an inspiration for doing with might whatsoever the hands find to 
do, which no armed foe can destroy, but which as the years pass 
on, magnify the life of "Honest John Hart." 



24 



Lord Stirling. 

By MRS. DEBORAH P. PEEKE. 

The subject of my sketch was born in New York City in 
1726. 

His father, James Alexander, was a native of Scotland, and 
took refuge in America in 1716, on account of the part he had taken 
in favor of the house of Stuart, in the rebellion of the preceding 
year. 

He was surveyor-general in New York and New Jersey, and in 
1720 was chosen by Governor Burnet, also a Scotchman, a member 
of his council. 

They were both men of learning, good morals and solid parts. 
He studied law and was not merely distinguished in that profes- 
sion, but was distinguished as a politician, statesman, and as a man 
of science. 

His skill as a scientific surveyor is attested by the instructions 
given to his subordinates for running the line of partition between 
East and West Jersey. 

So much for the father of Lord Stirling. There is pleasing 
music in the sound of one's own name in connection with the 
origin of famous men. This I hear in the name of the mother of 
Lord Stirling, for about ten years after his removal to this coun- 
try, James Alexander married a widow Provost, January ist, 
1721, and in 1726 was born William, known as the Earl of Stirling. 
In regard to his mother I feel warranted in making statements 
that are different from Lossing's account, but who himself was con- 
vinced of his mistake by one of the Provost family, an eminent 
lawyer residing now in New York City. Lossing copied the 
error that Lord Stirling's mother was the widow of David Pro- 
voost, who was immensely wealthy, and who received the sombri- 
quet of Ready Money Provoost. The fact that his father unwarily 
signed too much paper and was kept in jail some time under the 
statute of imprisonment for debt, may account to some extent for 
his son's ready cash methods. 

Lossing also said: Ready Money's wealth was attributed to 
illicit trade, that is, owning the Privateer Johnson which captured 
a number of French vessels with valuable cargoes, whereas that 
class of trade, extensively, boldly carried on by the merchants of 
New York was effectually put down by the Governor, aided by 
David Provoost the father of Ready Money, then Mayor of New 
York City in 1700. It had ceased before Ready Money was 10 

25 



years old. You perceive I wish my hero to start right, for he 
engaged with his mother in business, and I wish the business 
to be right. His mother was not Johannah Rynders, the widow of 
David, but Maria Spratt, the widow of Samuel Provost, a wealthy 
merchant, and upon his death she continued his business, which we 
shall perceive later. She was a woman of rare ability, and by 
her skill and close attention to business became the most wealthy 
woman of the colony. 

Miss Sedgwick in one of her works, quotes as a proof of the 
respectability of the Lord's mother, that notable woman, that Mrs. 
Alexander was at one period the only person in New York, ex- 
cept the Governor, who kept a coach. 

William had received as good an education as the provincial 
schools afforded, with the additional advantages of private instruc- 
tion from his father, in those branches of science of which the 
latter was particularly fond, and for which the former had inherited 
an aptness and taste. There has been found a manuscript account 
of his observation of the transit of Venus in 1769, after he had suc- 
ceeded his father as Surveyor-General. 

He did not at first pursue these branches practically as he en- 
tered upon the active business of life, first as the clerk and after- 
ward as the co-partner of his mother. In the course of their trade 
the firm obtained contracts for the supply of the King's troops with 
clothing and provisions, which led to the junior partner's joining 
the commissariat of the army. 

The zeal, activity and military spirit he displayed in the dis- 
charge of his duties in the field, as well as in the camp; attracted 
the notice of the Commander-in-Chief, General Shirley, whose 
staff he was eventually invited to join, as aid-de-camp and private 
secretary. In this capacity he served during the greater part of 
the war with France, which although not formally declared in 
Europe until 1756 (the year his father died) had actually com- 
menced in this continent before. It was thus that young Alex- 
ander had the early opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of mili- 
tary affairs, during three severe campaigns in which he served with 
General Shirley. 

His father before leaving Scotland was known to be the pre- 
sumptive heir to the title, but not to the estates of Henry, the then 
Earl of Stirling. But upon the death of that nobleman, which 
happened in 1737, there had been made no claim to the succession; 
but now the son had derived from his mother a considerable in- 
heritance, and he had married Sarah, the oldest daughter of Philip 
Livingston, the proprietor of the manor of that name, who was 
also sister of the Governor of New Jersey, thus acquiring a fortune 
suflficient in those days for the support of a Scotch earldom, and 
from his age, habits and associates, the rank and title of a noble- 
man had greater attraction for him, than for his wiser and more 

26 



philosophic father; therefore in 1757, at the age of 31, he went 
abroad to investigate his claim, consulting eminent counsel in 
London and Edinburgh. While in Scotland he formed valuable ac- 
quaintances, among them Captain Staats-Morris, a native of New- 
York, who had entered the British army early in life, and was now 
the husband of the Duchess dowager of Gordon, and it appears 
that Stirling was domesticated at Gordon Castle during a part of 
the time he remained in Scotland. 

Although his mother died in 1760 he was induced to prolong 
his stay in England another year, but finally his patience was ex- 
hausted and he left England before the recognition of his peerage 
was obtained. 

Soon after this he built a magnificent home at Basking Ridge, 
which at first was his Summer retreat, but afterward became his 
permanent residence. His dwelling together with its connecting 
offices, stables and coach houses was ornamented with cupolas and 
gilded vanes, and it surrounded a paved court or quadrangle. 
There was a grand hall and an imposing drawing room with richly 
decorated walls and stuccoed ceilings. Jones the Tory historian, 
who, of course, bore Lord Stirling no love, states that while 
living here he cut a splendid figure, he having brought with him 
from England, horses, carriages, a coachman, valet, butler, cook, 
steward, hair-dresser and a mistress. 

Here this American nobleman lived the life of a country 
gentleman of fortune. He rode in a great coach with gilded panels 
emblazoned with coronets and medallions; and altogether afifected 
a style and splendor, probably unequalled in the colonies. He was 
a member of the King's council, a colonel in the militia, and was 
naturally the most conspicuous figure in the country. 

There was no public institution in which he was more interested, 
and in the prosperity of which he was more active in promoting, 
than King's now Columbia College, of which he was a Governor. 
He also founded the society library of New York City. 

At the first sign of a severance of the relations between the 
colonies and the home government, Lord Stirling warmly espoused 
the popular cause, and throughout the war, as is well known, 
proved himself a staunch patriot and a soldier brave to rashness. 

In the Autumn of 1775 he was chosen Colonel of the first 
regiment of militia. While recruiting at Elizabeth-town he availed 
himself of his position and opportunities to gain intelligence in 
relation to the British ships of war in the harbor of New York, 
and thus could watch their motions. 

In January, 1776, with his regular troops and some volunteers 
from Elizabeth-town, he embarked on board a pilot-boat and three 
smaller vessels, and while the Asia, a man of war and her tender 
lay at anchor in the bay of New York, he proceeded at night to 
sea, and with musketry alone attacked and captured a British armed 

27 



transport of 300 tons burden, mounting six guns and laden with 
stores and provisions for the enemy at Boston; and the next day 
succeeded in conducting his prize into the port of Perth Amboy. 

The vessel was the Blue Mountain Valley. Through him, too, 
Congress conveyed thanks to the chairman of the Committee of 
Safety at Elizabeth. 

March, 1776, we find him appointed Brigadier-General for the 
Middle Department, comprehending New York, New Jersey, Penn- 
sylvania, the lower counties, and Maryland. The command was 
about 2,000 men. 

In August he is in the battle of Long Island against Lord 
Cornwallis, around Flatbush, New Eutrecht and Gowanus Creek. 
Stirling was taken prisoner, but effected the escape of a large part 
of his detachment. Washington lost no time in endeavoring to re- 
gain his services, so Stirling was exchanged for Governor Mont- 
fort Brown, of Florida. 

It was not until the evacuation of New York by Washington 
that Lord Stirling was enabled to rejoin the army. He was with 
it during its memorable retreat through New Jersey, and when it 
was conducted to its Winter quarters at Morristown, he was or- 
dered to take command, and when Cornwallis had marched out in 
force from Perth Amboy as far as Short Hills with a view (as was 
supposed) to break up General Washington's headquarters at Mor- 
ristown, Lord Stirling arrested his progress and frustrated his 
design. He then took part on the Delaware, and deterred the 
enemy from crossing at that time. Then he fell back upon Prince- 
ton, while our Commander-in-Chief fell upon the Hessians at Tren- 
ton. 

For his distinguished services he was elevated to the rank of 
Major-General, and as such we find him in 1777 fighting with 
Washington at the bloody battle of Brandywine. 

Upon breaking up his Winter quarters General Washington 
reassembled his troops at Middlebrook in the adjoining county of 
Somerset, where he encamped behind a strong and commanding 
range of hills near the Raritan, whence they might be marched 
with great ease and expedition to the defense of Philadelphia in 
case the enemy should attempt to take possession of that place. 

In the Winter of 'tj, the intrigue known from its principal 
contriver as the Conway Cabal, was brought to light, principally 
through the instrumentality of Lord Stirling. 

In the battle of Germantown his division with the brigades of 
Nash and Maxwell, formed the "corps de reserve"; and in the bat- 
tle of Monmouth he commanded the left wing of the American 
army. 

In October, '79, he was found at Pompton Plains. January, 
'80, at Staten Island. In March at Basking Ridge. In 1781 
around Albany near Saratoga, at Fort Ticonderoga. In the 

28 



Autumn and early part of Winter at Basking Ridge at home 
again. 

In January, '82, he repaired to Philadelphia where he estab- 
lished his headquarters for the Winter. 

In the Spring of '82 he was appointed on a board to settle 
the rank of the Subalterns of the Connecticut line, and therefore 
he and his troops were encamped at Fishkill. After performing 
these duties he passes on to Albany. 

His last letter was written from there to Captain McComber, 
December 20th, 1782. 

The fatigue of body and mind to which he had been sub- 
jected during his command in an important and exposed frontier, 
superadded to the hard service and constant exposure he had un- 
dergone from the commencement of the war, terminated his life at 
Albany, January isth, 1783, in the S7th year of his age, and he was 
buried in the vault of his wife's ancestors within the walls of the 
ancient Dutch church in that city, and when the old church was 
demolished, his bones were removed to the cemetery belonging 
to the Protestant Episcopal Church of which he was a member. 

His appearance was imposing, and it has been said that next to 
Washington he possessed the most martial presence of any com- 
mander in the army. 

Portraits of James Alexander and Mrs. Provost, and also of the 
Earl of Stirling, will be found in General Wilson's history of New 
York. Vol. II, p. 361. 

The death of Lord Stirling was lamented by his brother of- 
ficers, and the troops he had commanded, as well as by his personal 
friends. He was regretted indeed by all (both in military or civil 
life) who knew him, either in his public capacity or private rela- 
tions; by many, also, who without knowing him personally, were 
aware of the loss the public cause had sustained in being deprived 
at a critical moment of the influence of his character and the 
benefit of his services. No stronger evidence could have been 
given than the following resolution passed by Congress: 

Resolved, That- the President signify in a manner most respect- 
ful to the memory of the late Major-General, the Earl of Stirling, 
the sense Congress entertain of the early and meritorious exer- 
tions of that General in the common cause, and of the bravery, 
perseverance and military talents he possessed; which having fixed 
their esteem for his character while living, induce a proportionate 
regret for the loss of an officer who has rendered such constant 
and important services to his country. Above all, I cannot close 
without reading the following touching letter of condolence, ad- 
dressed to his widow by Washington himself: 

Newburg, 20th Jan., 1783. 
My Lady. — Having been informed by a letter from Capt. Sill 

29 



of the unspeakable loss which your ladyship has experienced, I 
feel the sincerest disposition, to alleviate by sympathy, those sor- 
rows which I am sensible, cannot be removed or effaced. 

For this purpose I would also have suggested every national 
topic of consolation were I not fully persuaded that the principles 
of philosophy and religion, of which you are possessed, had antici- 
pated every thing I could say on the subject. 

It only remains then, as a small but just tribute to the mem- 
ory of Lord Stirling, to express how deeply I share the common 
affliction on being deprived of the public and professional assist- 
ance, as well as the private friendship of an officer of so high rank, 
with whom I had lived in the strictest habits of amity, and how 
much those military merits of his Lordship which rendered him 
respected in his life time, are now regretted by the whole army. It 
will doubtless be a soothing consideration in the poignancy of your 
grief, to find that the general officers are going into mourning for 
him. 

Mrs. Washington joins me in requesting that your Ladyship 
and Lady Kittie will be assured that we feel the tenderest sensi- 
bility on this melancholy occasion. With sentiments of perfect 
esteem and respect, 
I am, etc. 

The man thus spoken of by Washington needs no other epi- 
taph or monument. 



A Romance of the Raritan Valley. 

By C. J. O. 
PREFACE. 

Records of undisputed authenticity conclusively prove that the 
hero and heroine of this "romance" were of no mean birth. 

The Hardenberghs are a German family, with annals of their 
noble ancestry reaching back in unbroken line more than seven 
hundred years to 1174, when Dietrich von Hardenbergh, — Prince 
Hardenbergh, — founder of the family, was born. 

Passing over many distinguished members of this princely 
house, and omitting altogether a description of their home and of 
the grand old castle in which the prince and his descendants dwelt 
for hundreds of years, we come, in 1510, to Albrecht Hardenbergh, 
an eminent divine, who had embraced the Reformed faith, and 
who became a friend of the "gentle" Melancthan. The first Har- 
denbergh to settle in America, was Johannes, an associate of Peter 
Stuyvesant and other early Dutch grandees. 

30 



A large tract of land in what is now New York State, wa^ 
granted to this same Johannes, — a truly baronial estate, bearing 
the name of "Rosendale," upon which was erected a fine man- 
sion. 

Johannes must have been a cadet of the house of Harden- 
bergh, for the older branch remained in Holland, whither the fam- 
ily had migrated during the Reformation. 

The present head of the Holland branch is Furst von Harden- 
bergh, of whom Miss Fanny Howell, — a lineal descendant of my 
hero and heroine, John Hardenbergh and Ann Wallace, — possesses 
an excellent picture. 

Ann Wallace belonged to an "ancient and honorable" Scottish 
family, representatives of which came early to Philadelphia, settled 
there, and became tea merchants of "credit and renown." 

The names of John, William and Joshua Wallace being held in 
high esteem to this day. 

Chapter I. 

"In the Spring a young man's fancy 
Lightly turns to thoughts of love." 

It is a sunshiny Lord's Day in the Spring time long ago. 

The country-side is assembling at the Dutch church near Der- 
rick Van Veghten's house for divine service. 

Young John Hardenbergh stands without, idly chatting with 
a group of congenial spirits, expectantly gazing at the successive 
arrivals. Demonts, Van Veghtens. Van Arsdalens, Elmendorfs, 
Vredenburghs, Voorheeses, Tunisons, Beekmans, Strykers, van 
der Veers, Wallaces, Bergens, Peter Coejemans and his lovely 
daughters, Dr. Jonathan Ford Morris and family, with many oth- 
ers, arrive; then Gen. Washington and his staflf with Mrs. Wash- 
ington; and, finally, Dominie Hardenbergh, Dinah Van Bergh on 
his arm, with a negro servant bearing Bible and hymn book, 
bringing up the rear. 

All then pass reverently into the church, but no one ventures 
to seat himself until the Dominie, "standing at the foot of the pul- 
pit stairs, his face buried in his hat, breathes a silent prayer for help 
and guidance." 

As the Dominie's son, John, takes his place with the men and 
boys in the seats allotted to them, according to the custom of the 
day, his eyes turn not to uniformed officer or stately dame, but 
to the fair Scotch lassie sitting so demurely beside the "Widow 
Wallace," her sweet face upturned to the preacher, with an expres- 
sion that seems to denote a mind quite free from "thoughts un- 
ruly." 

Although this is John Hardenbergh's first glimpse of Ann 
Wallace, he has already resolved that it shall not be his last. 

31 



Chapter II. 

As the "patient spring" advances, many opportunities occur 
for John to meet the lady of his love. 

Sometimes, sauntering through his father's orchard under the 
blossoming apple-trees, vaulting over the fence that marks the 
boundary line between the Hardenbergh and Wallace estates, and 
standing at the garden gate, he sees Ann flitting about among the 
flowers. 

And there are the tea-drinkings at the Hardenbergh home, 
where Mistress Wallace is always a welcome guest. Oh, the hours 
in that drawing room! Could one ever forget them? 

Dinah Van Bergh's drawing room! How can I make you see 
the large, low-ceiled room with its two windows opening toward* 
the north and two towards the south; the high-carved mantelpiece 
over the broad fire-place, with its shining brass andirons; the pier 
glass brought from Holland by Jefferow Van Bergh, Dinah's 
mother; the portraits on the walls; the fine furniture, quaint 
jars, girandoles, candlesticks, etc., etc., all brought from the dear 
home land. 

And tea in the dining room, that is indeed an event to be re- 
membered. What a picture it is; the sideboard laden with rich 
silver-tankards, bowls, teapots, urns; the china so rare and costly; 
the dainty glasses! All indicating the high position and great 
wealth of the honored hostess. 

Time and space fails me to tell the whole story of this court- 
ship; the horseback rides in company with John's sisters, of 
Ann's heartaches because John has shown too devoted attention 
to some other fair one, and all the varied experiences that make 
the bliss or pain of a youthful romance. It is enough to say that, 
after a period of ardent wooing, matters come to a climax one 
moonlit evening, as the lovers walk among the roses in the Wal- 
lace House garden, Ann herself queen rose of them all. 

Then John ventures to ask the momentous question, while Ann 
lends a not unwilling ear. 

What do they say? 

"Ah, how can I tell again what words they said? 
Some tongue they used unknown to loveless men, 
As each to each they told their great delight." 

Chapter III. 

There is a wedding at the Wallace House, in process of time. 

The Wallace House! What a world of meaning that name 
contains for those to whom it has been from earliest childhood a 
mecca of delight! 

32 



They will experience no difficulty in descrying the halo of ro- 
mance that hangs about the ancient homestead. For them the 
phantoms of an unwritten history must ever haunt those rooms. 

The house, in those far-away times, stood in the midst of 
broad meadow-lands, as did its next neighbor, the Dutch parson- 
age. The old negro women have scrubbed and scoured, baked 
and brewed, until now the mansion stands shining in the sunlight, 
ready for the bridal. The ceremony takes place in the wains- 
coated parlor, Dominie Hardenbergh officiating, with Dinah Van 
Bergh Frelinghuysen Hardenbergh to give a blessing, and many 
distinguished guests to lend dignity to the occasion. 

Ann robed in white, and John arrayed in the becoming cos- 
tume of the day, make a picture fair to see. 

"And so they were married." I should like to say, "'and lived 
happy ever after," but, alas! history and tradition furnish grounds 
for the belief that Ann may, sometimes, have suspected that she 
had taken John not "for better," but "for worse." 

They build and dwell in a fine stone manor house, on the site 
of the residence of the late Dumont Frelinghuysen, Esq., where 
they dispense a lavish hospitality, characteristic of the times when 
people of means and position preserved, as far as possible, the tra- 
ditions of the Old-World style of living. Two fair daughters and 
three sons come to gladden their home. 

Chapter IV. 

"But lips must fade and roses wither 
And all sweet times be past." 

And now, "life's fitful fever ended," they lie side by side, — 
gay, pleasure-loving John Hardenbergh, and sweet Ann Wallace, 
his wife, in the family burying-ground, not far from the old 
parsonage, where all who will may read these inscriptions on their 
tombstones: 

"In memory of Ann, wife of John Hardenbergh, Esq., who de- 
parted this life Nov. 2^, 1793, aged 35 years and 6 months." 

"In memory of John Hardenbergh, Esq., who departed this life 
July 2},, 1798, aged 39 years, 3 months and 12 days." 



Z^ 



A Busy Life in Revolutionary Times. 

By MISS LOUISE ANDERSON. 

(Extracts from "Through Colonial Doorways," and from 
Memoirs of Mrs. Abigail Adams). 

The revival of interest in Colonial and Revolutionary times 
has become a marked feature of the life of to-day. Its manifesta- 
tions are to be found in the literature which has grown up around 
these periods and in the painstaking individual research being 
made among documents and records of the past with genealogical 
and historical interest. 

Not only has a desire been shown to learn more of the great 
events of the last century, but with it has come an altogether 
natural curiosity to gain some insight into the social and domestic 
life of colonial days. To read of councils, congresses and battles 
is not enough; men and women wish to know something more 
intimate and personal of the life of the past, of how their ancestors 
lived and loved as well as of how they wrought, sufifered and died. 

The historian of the past has, as a rule, been pleased to treat 
with dignified silence the lighter side of colonial life, allowing the 
procession of noble men and fair women to sweep on, grand, 
stately and imposing, but lacking the softer touches that belong 
to social and domestic life. 

So much has been written and said of the stern virtues of the 
fathers and mothers of the Republic, and of their sacrifices, priva- 
tions and heroism, that we of this generation would be in danger 
of regarding them as types of excellence to be placed upon ped- 
estals rather than as men and women to be loved with human 
affection, were it not for some old letter or diary, or anecdote that 
floats down to us from the past, revealing the touch of nature that 
makes them our kinsfolk by the bond of sympathy and interest and 
habit as well as by that of blood. 

Through such chronicles or letters we sometimes meet the 
great ladies of the past at ball or dinner, or better still, in the in- 
formal intercourse of their own homes, and catch glimpses of their 
husbands and lovers, the warriors and statesmen and philosophers 
of the time at some social club like the "Hasty Pudding" of Cam- 
bridge, the "Wistar Parties" of Philadelphia, or the "Tuesday 
Club" of Baltimore. Meeting them thus enjoying witticisms and 
good cheer in one another's company, we feel a closer bond be- 
tween their life and our own than if they were always presented to 
us in public ceremonial with pen or folio in hand. 

34 



The records that have come down to us are, after all, only 
a few of the great mass written. Many perhaps equally interesting 
have found their way to the fire-place, or, still more ignoble fate, 
been torn up for curl papers. 

Amid elaborate ceremonials attending the inauguration of the 
first President of the Republic, we find some homely touches of 
nature, as when those too admirable housewives, Mrs. Washington 
and Mrs. Adams were detained at home in April and May, 1789, 
by domestic duties, and so missed all the joyful demonstrations 
along the route, as well as the brave welcome accorded their dis- 
tinguished husbands in the city of New York. 

Mrs. Washington was busied in putting her household in or- 
der and shipping china, cut-glass, silverware and linen from Mount 
Vernon to the Capital. While from Mr. Adams' letters we gather 
that the wife whom he so trusted, that he permitted her to dispose 
of sheep, cows and other live-stock on her own responsibilty, was 
attending to such matters at Braintree, Mass., prior to their re- 
moval to the fine country place at Richmond Hill, that Mr. 
Adams had rented for the season — (the same house that was the 
residence of Aaron Burr at the time of his duel with Alexander 
Hamilton). 

In days of retirement at Mount Vernon, when engaged in in- 
structing her maidens or in household pursuits, Mrs. Washington 
was always simply attired, and in cloth of home manufacture. She 
could, however, on occasions of state, appear in rich costumes of 
velvet, satin and lace; while the President, although appearing at 
the inaugural ceremonies in a suit of cloth of American manufac- 
ture, on festal occasions, donned the velvet and satin that so well 
became him. 

At her formal receptions, Mrs. Washington stood with the 
cabinet ladies around her, stately Mrs. Robert Morris by her 
side, herself the stateliest figure of the group. If around the 
chief magistrate were gathered the great men of the nation who 
had already impressed themselves deeply upon the past, and, in 
connection with the younger minds were destined to outline the 
serener history of the future, Mrs. Washington numbered in her 
republican court the noblest and most beautiful women in the 
land. 

Mrs. Adams' letters about her children, her household econo- 
mies, and experiments in farming are almost as interesting as those 
written from abroad, because she approaches all subjects, even the 
most common-place, with a buoyant spirit and playful fancy. To 
her husband during one of his long absences from home, she 
writes: 

"I could give you a long list of domestic affairs, but they 
would only embarrass you, and in no way relieve me. All do- 
mestic pleasures are absorbed in the great and important duty 

35 



you owe your country, for our country is, as it were, a secondary 
god, and the first and greatest parent. It is to be preferred to 
parents, wives, children, friends, and all things, the gods only ex- 
cepted." 

The ordinary occupations of women are necessarily such that 
they are prevented from partaking largely of the action of life. 
However keenly they may think or feel, there is seldom an occa- 
sion when the sphere of their exertions can, with propriety, be 
extended much beyond the domestic hearth or social circle. Here 
they are to be seen most in their glory. 

Mrs. Adams' letters show that at no time was she more fully 
occupied than during the three or four years of her husband's ab- 
sence in France, when she was living in the utmost seclusion. 
The depreciation of continental paper money, the difficulties in the 
way of managing her husband's property, her own isolation and 
the course of public events in distant parts of the country, form 
her constant topics. Her letters are remarkable because they dis- 
play the readiness with which she could devote herself to the 
most opposite duties and the cheerful manner in which she could 
accommodate herself to the difficulties of the times. She is a farm- 
er cultivating the land and discussing the weather and the crops, 
a merchant reporting prices and the rate of exchange, and direct- 
ing the making up of invoices; a politician speculating upon the 
probabilities of peace or war, and a mother writing the most ex- 
alted sentim.ents to her son. All of these pursuits she adopts 
together, some from choice, the rest from necessity, and in all she 
appears equally well. 

The signature of the Treaty of Peace with Great Britain, 
which fully established the independence of the United States, did 
not terminate the residence of Mr. Adams in Europe. He was 
ordered by Congress to remain there and, in conjunction with Dr. 
Franklin and Mr. Jefiferson, to establish by treaty commercial re- 
lation with foreign powers. And not long after a new commission 
was sent him as the first representative of the nation to him who 
had been their King. 

The duties prescribed seemed likely to require a residence suf- 
ficiently long to authorize him in a request that Mrs. Adams 
should join him in Europe. After some hesitation she consented, 
and in June. 1784, sailed from Boston in a merchant vessel bound 
for London. 

Mrs. Adams thus found herself, at the age of forty, suddenly 
transplanted into a scene entirely new. From a life of the utmost 
retirement in a quiet country town of New England, she was at 
once transferred to the busy and bustling scenes of the populous 
and wealthy cities of Europe. Not only was the position novel to 
herself, but there had been nothing like it among her country- 
women. She was the first representative of her sex from the 

36 



United States at the Court of Great Britain. The impression 
made upon her mind were therefore received when it was uncom- 
monly open and free from the ordinary restraints which an estab- 
lished routine of precedents is apt to create. 

Her residence in France during the first year of her European 
experience, appears to have been much enjoyed, notwithstanding 
the embarrassment felt by her from not speaking the language. 

That in England, lasting three years, was somewhat affected 
by the temper of the sovereign. George and his Queen could 
not get over the mortification attending the loss of the American 
colonies, nor, at all times, suppress the manifestation of it, when 
the presence of their minister forced the subject on their recol- 
lection. 

Mrs. Adams went through the ordinary form of presentation 
at Court, but was not more than civilly met on the part of the 
Queen, whose subsequent conduct was hardly so good as on that 
occasion. 

Mrs. Adams appears never to have forgotten it; for at a much 
later period, when in consequence of the French Revolution the 
throne of England was thought to be in danger, she writes to her 
daughter with regret at the prospect for the country, but without 
sympathy for the Queen. "Humiliation for Charlotte," she writes, 
■"is no sorrow for me. She richly deserves her full portion for the 
contempt and scorn which she took pains to discover." 

Of course the courtiers followed the lead thus given to them, 
and the impression made against America at the very outset of its 
national career, has hardly been effaced down to this day. Yet, 
notwithstanding these drawbacks, she seems to have enjoyed 
much her residence in the mother country. But nothing appears 
to have qualified, in any degree, the earnestness of her attach- 
ment to her own modest home. "Whatever is to be the fate of 
our dear country," she writes to her sister at home, "we have de- 
termined to come home and share it with you." She had very little 
of that susceptibility of transfer which is a characteristic, not less 
■of the cultivated and wealthy class of our countrymen who cling 
to the luxury of the Old World, than of the adventurers and 
hardy sons of labor who carve out for themselves a new home in 
the forests of the West. 

Upon Mr. Adams' return to the United States, he was elected 
Vice-president, and a residence at the seat of government during 
the session of the Senate was made necessary. And as that was 
fixed first at New York and then at Philadelphia, Mrs. Adams 
liad an opportunity to mix freely with the society in both places. 

From early life Mrs. Adams had learned to take a deep inter- 
est in the course of political affairs, and it is not to be supposed 
that this would decline while her husband was a chief actor in the 
scene. 

37 



Upon Gen. Washington's retirement from the presidency, after 
eight years, Mr. Adams was elected his successor, and when the 
votes were counted, as Vice-president, was required by law to an- 
nounce himself the President-elect for the ensuing term. 

In a letter written to him on this day (February 8, I797) Mrs. 
Adams says: 

"The sun is dressed in bright beams 
To give thy honors to the day." 

"And may it prove an auspicuous prelude to each ensuing sea- 
son. 

"You have, this day, to declare yourself head of a nation. 

" 'And now, O Lord my God, Thou hast made thy servant 
ruler over the people. Give unto him an understanding heart that 
he may know how to go out and come in before this great peo- 
ple; and that he may discern between good and bad. For who is 
able to judge this thy so great people?' Were the words of a 
royal sovereign, and not less applicable to him who is invested 
with the Chief Magistracy of a nation, though he wear not a 
crown nor the robes of royalty. My thoughts and meditations 
are with you, though personally absent; and my petitions to 
Heaven are that 'the things which make for peace may not be hid- 
den from your eyes.' 

"My feelings are not those of pride or ostentation on this 
occasion; they are solemnized by a sense of the obligations, the 
important trusts and numerous duties connected with it. That you 
may be enabled to discharge them with honor to yourself, with 
justice and impartiality to your country, and with satisfaction to 
this great people shall be the daily prayer of your A. A." 

At this time Mrs. Adams' health, which had never been very 
firm, began to fail, and the desire to enjoy the bracing air of her 
native climate, as well as to keep together the private property of 
her husband upon which she foresaw that he would be obliged ta 
rely for their support in their last years, prompted her to reside 
much of the time in Quincy, as that part of the ancient town of 
Braintree, in which she had always lived, was now called. 

Yet, when at the seat of government, whether at Philadelphia 
or Washington, the influence of her kindly feelings and cheerful' 
temper did much to soften the asperities of the times. In the midst 
of public or private troubles the buoyant spirit of Mrs. Adams 
never forsook her. "I am a mortal enemy," she writes upon one 
occasion, "to anything but a cheerful countenance and a merry 
heart which Solomon tells us does good like a medicine." 

This spirit contributed greatly to lift up her husband's heart 
when surrounded by difficulties and dangers, exposed to open hos- 

38 



tility and secret detraction, and resisting a torrent of invective, 
such as, it may well be doubted, any other individual in public 
station in the United States has tried to stem. 

Mrs. Adams' interest in public affairs did not cease with her 
husband's retirement. She continues to write to friends her free 
opinions, both of men and measures, perhaps with a more 
sustained hand, because of the share her son was then taking in 
politics. None of her letters present a more agreeable picture of 
life than these. The old age of Mrs. Adams was not one of grief 
and repining, of clouds and darkness. Her cheerfulness continued 
— with the full possession of her faculties to the last — and her sun- 
ny spirit enlivened the small social circle around her, brightening 
the solitary hours of her husband and spreading the influence of 
its example over the town where she lived. 

"Yesterday," she writes to a granddaughter on the 26th of 
October, 1814, "Yesterday completes half a century since I entered 
the married state — then just your age. I have great cause for 
thankfulness that I have lived so long and enjoyed so large a por- 
tion of happiness as has been my lot. The greatest source of un- 
happiness I have known in that period has arisen from the long 
and cruel separations, which I was called in a time of war, and with 
a young family around me to submit to." 

Mrs. Adams died on the 28th of October, 1818, at the age of 
seventy-four years. Her obsequies were attended by a great con- 
course of people who voluntarily came to pay this last tribute to 
her memory. 

Several brief, but beautiful notices of her, appeared in the pa- 
pers of the day, and a sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. Kirk- 
land, then president of Harvard University, which closed with a 
delicate and affecting testimony to her worth. "Ye will seek to 
mourn, bereaved friends," it says, "as becomes Christians in a 
manner worthy of the person you lament. You do, then, bless the 
Giver of life that the course of your endeared and honored friend 
was so long and so bright; that she entered so fully into the 
spirit of those injunctions which we have explained, and was a 
minister of blessings to all within her influence. You are soothed 
to reflect that she was sensible of the many tokens of divine good- 
ness which marked her lot; that she received the good of her 
existence with a cheerful and grateful heart; that, when called to 
weep, she bore adversity with an equal mind: that she used the 
world as not abusing it to excess, improving well her time, tal- 
ents and opportunities, and though desired longer in this world, 
was fitted for a better happiness than this world can give." 



39 



Sketch of Dinah Van Bcrgh. 

By MRS. HENRY HARDWICKE. 

The subject of this sketch, Dinah Van Bergh, was born in 
Amsterdam, Holland, in 1725. 

Her father was a wealthy merchant, extensively engaged in the 
East India trade. He reared his family in all the fashion and re- 
finement of city life, a highly classical education being bestowed 
on his children. 

Dinah, endowed by nature with rare talent, would have graced 
society, but at the early age of fourteen she became deeply re- 
ligious, and did not care for fashionable, social life. Even as a 
.child, she could not endure to see her father play cards, and it is 
said, once she entered the room where he was playing with his 
favorite friends. Dinah begged them to stop. One of his com- 
panions looked up and said, in a rude manner, "Put the child out 
of the room." 

It was destined that Miss Van Bergh should meet the young 
divinity student, John Frelinghuysen, who had been sent by his 
father, the Rev. Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen, who was set- 
tled at Six Mile Run, N. J., from America to Holland, to finish 
his theological education. 

The attractive youth was immediately captivated by the bril- 
liant Dinah, but pleaded his suit in vain. 

The time having arrived for his departure to America, he set 
sail with a heavy heart, but the vessel being unable to proceed, on 
account of some accident, caused by a furious storm, put back to 
port for repairs. 

This was a providential happening for the young Domine. He 
speedily renewed his suit, and Miss Van Bergh consented to be- 
come Mrs. Frelinghuysen. At first her parents seemed unfavor- 
able to the union, not wanting their daughter to leave her native 
country for the comparatively uncivilized New World. 

In due time, after a safe voyage to America and return, Mr. 
Frelinghuysen and Miss Van Bergh were married. They soon 
embarked for America, and during the passage the ship sprung a 
leak. After many days every effort to stop the leak having failed, 
the captain abandoned all hopes of saving his ship, and so reported 
to the passengers. Mrs. Frelinghuysen had no fears. She gave 
herself up to prayer, and in a very short time the leakage ceased. 
The pumps worked effectually; they were all saved. When inves- 
tigations were made, a sword fish was found wedged in the place 

40 



where the leak had been. The yoyage was continued, and they 
reached America in safety. 

Mrs. Frelinghuysen looked upon this marvellous escape from 
death as an answer to her prayer, and this is not the only time, 
for there are many such incidents narrated. 

Mrs. Frelinghuysen brought with her many useful and orna- 
mental articles. Some of which are preserved to the present 
day by her descendants. She also brought bricks for the build- 
ing of a house. 

The young couple erected their house on the banks of the 
Raritan, in New Jersey, the town now being known as Somerville, 
but in former times as Raritan. 

The house was a substantial brick structure; the interior being 
handsomely finished, and was surrounded by a beautiful lawn. 

The site was on a rise of ground sloping gently to the 
meadows on the south; on the north the blue hills in view. A 
long avenue, "bordered by flowering and fragrant shrubbery," con- 
nected it with the old post road, or Easton Turnpike. 

Mr. Frelinghuysen entered on his duties as successor to his 
father, having charge at Raritan, Six Mile Run, Neshanic and 
North Branch. He preached his first sermon in the Raritan 
church at Finderne in the Summer of 1750. 

The happiness of the young couple was of short duration. 
While Mr. and Mrs. Frelinghuysen were visiting relatives on 
Long Island, Mr. Frelinghuysen having gone there to attend to 
church duties, he was taken seriously ill, and died September, 1754. 

Mrs. Frelinghuysen being now left alone with two young chil- 
dren to educate, determined to return to her parents in Holland. 
The oldest child was a daughter, named Eva, the second, a son, 
named Frederick, whom we hear of so often in after years, as one 
greatly beloved by General Washington, and holding many im- 
portant positions, not only in the Revolutionary War, but after- 
wards in the Senate, Continental Congress, etc. 

Rev. John Frelinghuysen had several students studying The- 
ology with him at his house, at the time of his decease. One was 
Jacob Rutzen Hardenbergh. 

Mrs. Frelinghuysen had her plans all arranged to leave Amer- 
ica, and her passage engaged. 

The day previous to her sailing she took her children to a 
favorite spot in the meadow below her home. She was evidently 
taking a farewell view of familiar scenes, and perhaps, had been 
engaged in prayer, when she looked up and saw young Mr. Har- 
denbergh approaching her. She seemed not pleased that he had 
taken this liberty. He soon explained his feeling about her pro- 
posed departure for Holland, and told her of his deep and ardent 
love for her. She, a widow of so short a period, was astonished, 
and exclaimed, "My child, what are you thinking about?" 

41 



Her mind was fully made up to start the next day, but when 
morning came, so terrific a storm was raging, as to make it 
unsafe for Mrs'. Frelinghuysen to start with her little children. 
When the storm had abated and she reached New York, the ves- 
sel had sailed. So she returned to her home. 

Mr. Hardenbergh, therefore, had ample opportunity to urge 
his suit, before it was time for the next ship. 

At length "Dinah," moved doubtless, rather by what she must 
have regarded as manifestations of the Divine Will, that she was 
to remain here to continue the good work so auspiciously begun 
with Mr. Frelinghuysen, than by the pleadings of her youthful 
suitor, yielded to his entreaties, and so became the wife of Jacob 
Rutzen Hardenbergh. 

She, with her children, went to Mr. Hardenbergh's father's 
home, Rosendale, a spacious, elegant mansion in Ulster county, 
New York, and lived with his parents, till her husband had finished 
his studies. 

Mr. Hardenbergh was chosen to fill the vacant pulpit of Mr. 
Frelinghuysen. So he and Mrs. Hardenbergh lived in the same 
house in which the Frelinghuysens began their housekeeping. 

This home continued to be a meeting place for the cultured 
and refined. 

General Washington whose headquarters at the "Wallace 
House" joined this estate, was with his wife a frequent caller. The 
General attended church, and was "found seated at the head of 
the pew, appropriated to the elders, at the side of the pulpit, whilst 
at other times the pastor's household was entertained with sweet 
strains by the band of the illustrious chieftain." 

After a twenty-three years' pastorate at Raritan, Dr. Harden- 
bergh was called to the church at Marbletown, Ulster county. 
New York, and while there, General and Lady Washington were 
occupying headquarters at Newburgh. 

A copy of a letter by the Commander-in-Chief's secretary may 
not be out of place. 

Kingston, N. Y., June 29, 1783. 
Dear Sir. — Mrs. Washington is at this place, accompanied by 
his excellency, the Governor and Mrs. Clinton, and purposes to 
get out to-morrow morning early, as to reach headquarters by 
evening. 

She is desirous of paying the Domine and Mrs. Hardenbergh a 
visit on her way down, and will therefore do herself the pleasure 
of waiting on your family at breakfast, at which time I shall do 
myself the honor to attend her. 

Your Obed't Serv't, 

RICHD. VARRICK. 
Col. Hardenbergh. 

42 



Dr. Hardenbergh was not to pass the remainder of his Hfe in 
his old home. He was called to the pastorate of the First Re- 
formed Dutch Church of New Brunswick, New Jersey, and was 
also elected the first president of Queen's College, afterwards Rut- 
gers. 

Dr. Hardenbergh and his wife were highly gratified to return 
to New Jersey, since it brought them near their children and 
former acquaintances. 

Frederick Frelinghuysen, Mrs. Hardenbergh's eldest son, lived 
about eight miles distant on the banks of the Millstone, and a num- 
ber of the children bearing the name of Hardenbergh were also 
settled either in New Brunswick, or not far distant. 

Dr. Hardenbergh died in 1790, aged 51 years; known not only 
for his great ability as a preacher and efficient president of the 
College, but for his services to his country. He was appointed to 
a seat in the convention that formed the Constitution of New 
Jersey, and was chairman of important committees. It was dur- 
ing his pastorate that the Queen's Rangers under Col. Simcoe, 
burned his church. 

The following anecdote will better illustrate the character of 
Mrs. Hardenbergh that anything I can say: "A number of the 
ladies of the congregation sent word to the 'Juffouw,' that they 
would visit and take tea with her, upon a specified Sabbath after- 
noon. It might be supposed that she would have met the pro- 
posal with a stem repulse. She, however, leaving them to bear 
the responsibility, assured them it would afford her sincere pleasure 
to see them. They came, and upon entering the house were so 
aflfectionately received, and were so hospitably entertained, and 
were called to listen to such edifying remarks, and drawn into 
such improving and appropriate conversation, that they went away 
taught, and disposed to seek their happiness on the Sabbath, in 
something above and better, than feasting and worldly fellowship." 

Mrs. Hardenbergh spent the remaining years of her life in 
New Brunswick, surrounded by loving friends and devoted rela- 
tives. It is said much of her time was occupied in writing. Her 
appearance is described "as of medium stature in complexion rather 
dark — with dark hair and eyes; as very neat and plain in her dress, 
and attractive in manner, and that no one could avoid loving her 
so kind and gentle in disposition, as not to have trouble with 
any one." This is a description of her, late in life, by oue of her 
old friends in New Brunswick. 

Mrs. Hardenbergh died at the advanced age of eighty-one in 
the year 1807, and was buried in the grounds, adjoining the church 
in New Brunswick, where her husband had been pastor, and where 
he had been buried, seventeen years before. 



43 



Somerset County Women of the Revolution. 

By MRS. HUGH B. REED. 

The laurels that wreathe the brows of statesmen and armed 
heroes of the Revolution had their root in the hearts of the peo- 
ple, and were nourished with their life blood. The feeling which 
wrought thus powerfully in the community depended, in great part, 
on the women. Patriotic mothers nursed the infancy of freedom. 
Their counsels and their prayers mingled with the deliberations 
that resulted in a nation's assertion of its independence. They 
animated the courage and confirmed the self-devotion of those 
who ventured all in the common cause. They frowned upon in- 
stances of coldness or backwardness and in the period of deepest 
gloom cheered and urged onward the desponding. They willingly 
shared the inevitable dangers and privations, and parted with 
those they loved better than life, not knowing when they should 
meet again. 

It is almost impossible, now, to appreciate the vast influence of 
woman's patriotism upon the destinies of the infant republic. A 
writer in the New Jersey Gazette (published at Trenton during the 
war) says: " No mean merit will accrue to him who shall justly 
celebrate the virtues of our ladies. Shall not their generous con- 
tributions to relieve the wants of the defenders of our country 
supply a column to emulate the Roman women, stripped of their 
jewels when the public necessity demanded them." 

Such tributes were often called forth by the voluntary exer- 
tions of American women. Their patriotic sacrifices were made 
with enthusiasm. The needy shared the fruits of their industry 
and economy. They visited hospitals daily, sought the dungeons 
of the provost, and the crowded holds of prison ships. Provisions 
were carried from their stores to the captives whose only return 
was the blessing of those ready to perish. Many women raised 
grain, reaped it and carried bread made from, it to relatives in the 
army, or in prison, accompanying the supply with exhortations 
never to abandon the cause of their country. 

The burial of friends slain in battle, or chance encounter, often 
devolved upon women, and even enemies would not always have 
received sepulture without the services of their hands. 

Not only was the pressure of want removed, but "the sym- 
pathy and favor of the daughters of America," says one of the 
journals, "operated like a charm on the soldier's heart — gave vigor 
to exertion, confidence to his hopes of success and the ultimate 
certainty of victory and peace." 

44 



Few of the original thirteen colonies can be compared with 
New Jersey in the number and importance of land marks of the 
Revolutionary War, and some writers claim for her the most 
inexhaustible supply of colonial and Revolutionary relics. Her 
society, too, was as intellectual as that which sprang- from the 
rocks of Puritanism. There is scarce an acre of soil in the northern 
part of the State not once pressed by the foot of the Revolution- 
ary soldier, and there are few of the dwellings that have survived 
the march of the century, that did not shelter at one time or 
another, some of the heroes of '76, or of the colonial dames and 
daughters who played scarcely less potent parts in the drama of 
our struggle for freedom. 

Our knowledge of the women of Somerset county who nobly 
bore their part in the Revolution, of there actions and their suf- 
ferings, must be gained chiefly from private sources. Letters of 
friendship and affection, those faithful transcripts of the heart and 
mind of individuals, have been earnestly sought, but letter writing 
was far less usual among our ancestors than at the present day. 
The uncertainty and, in that period, the danger attendant upon 
the transmission of letters were not only impediments to frequent 
correspondence, but excluded from those which were written, 
much discussion of the absorbing subjects of the time. Then, too, 
the 19th century was justly called "the manuscript destroying 
age." 

It would be superfluous for me to dwell upon the record of 
Dinah Van Bergh, since Mrs. Hardwicke, a lineal descendant, has 
already given the history of that remarkable woman, who was 
held in high esteem by both General and Mrs. Washington. 

We find the name of Sarah, Lady Stirling, first, on the Relief 
Committee of Somerset county. She was the sister of Governor 
Livingston and wife of Lord Stirling, Major-General in our army. 
During the war Lady Stirling was often in camp with her husband, 
but she is described as devoting much of her time to the govern- 
ment and care of her extensive household at Stirling Manor. Tra- 
dition says she was very fond of pets, and her dogs, cats and 
monkeys were the terror of her acquaintances. 

The marriage of her daughter, Lady Kitty, to Col. William 
Duer, of New York, was the last fete given with the old time state 
at Stirling Manor. Out under old trees, heavy with July foliage, 
the wedding took place, in the year 1779. Many of the guests had 
to find their way past sentinels and army lines to be present. Gov- 
ernor Livingston had occasion to issue many passes. The bride's 
gifts were very fine for the period. The Duchess of Gordon, al- 
ways the ardent friend of Lord Stirling, the Earl of Shelburne 
and others of the British nobility remembered his fair daughter, 
and hundreds of pieces of padnasoy, satin and laces passed through 
the army lines. From family tradition we learn the bride was in 

45 



white and made a "beautiful figure" as she stood beside General 
Washington awaiting the coming of the bridegroom. After the 
knot was tied, the ladies, escorted by brilliantly uniformed officers 
(for affairs were then in a better condition than earlier in the 
war) trained, their gay petticoats over the lawn to the mansion 
house, where one of those bounteous, old-time collations was 
served. Later, when the young people were deciding to play 
games "Langteraloo," and all the forgotten merry-makings in- 
dulged in at weddings, a clamor arose outside of the house. The 
guests rushing to the windows found the house surrounded by sol- 
diers from a near-by camp, shouting lustily for a view of the bride. 

Our prettiest picture of Lady Kitty is as she steps out upon 
the grass in her white satin slippers to receive the congratulations 
of her father's fellow campaigners. 

Lady Kitty lived in New York, after her marriage, in great 
luxury. The names of Colonel Duer and his bride are frequent 
on the dinner list of Mrs. John Jay, the social register of old 
New York. 

On the Somerset county side of Main street in Princeton, lived 
Richard Stockton IV., known as "The Squire," and his charm- 
ing poetical wife, Annis Boudinot. "Emilia" and "Lucius" they 
signed themselves, after the romantic fashion of the day in their 
faded epistles. They lived a married life pretty as a pastoral, and 
viewed to-day through the long vista of years, they appear like 
brightly colored, charming figures on a piece of old tapestry. Mrs. 
Stockton's effusions, still in existence, teem \vith i8th century sen- 
timentality. One of her first recorded acts on arriving at her hus- 
band's home, was to change the name of the mansion from "Con- 
stitution Hall" to "Morven," (after one of Ossian's heroes). 

In the beginning of the war she is said to have declared that 
she would not weep, though her whole library was destroyed, if 
her dear "Young's Night Thoughts" was saved intact. Mrs. Stock- 
ton's name was next to Lady Stirling's on the "Relief Committee," 
and her zeal in the work was unflagging. 

On the approach of Cornwallis' army in 1776, the neighbor- 
hood was thrown into a panic. Mrs. Stockton buried her silver 
in her garden; hid in a tree trunk important papers taken from 
"Whig Hall," and started with her children for Freehold, leaving 
her home and its treasures at the mercy of the British. Morven 
was occupied by Lord Cornwallis and his officers. They wantonly 
destroyed its furnishings and even some of the woodwork. Annis 
Stockton had good cause to hate "that ignoble lord," as she 
called him. On his surrender, she published her ode of con- 
gratulation to General Washington, who considered it so choice 
an exhibition of skill and taste that he wrote, "It afforded me a 
pleasure beyond power of utterance." Later, on the announcement 
of peace, in 1783, she addressed another one to him, and the letter 

46 



he sent her from Rocky Hill, on its receipt, is considered the most 
charming and playful of the compositions of the great General. 

Of the stay at the Van Veghten House of General Greene and 
his wife (Catharine Littlefield) the "dancing Greene's" they have 
been called, we all remember first the "pretty little frisk" when the 
Commander-in-Chief is said to have danced for three hours with 
Mrs. Greene. The old walls could tell us stories of Mrs. Greene's 
hours of sewing for the soldiers, making her a rival of the "knit- 
ting wife" of Counsellor Farrand(?) at Morristown; of her plan- 
ning for better quarters for them with her host, and of her untir- 
ing devotion to the sick and sufifering soldiers. When in later 
years, after General Greene's death, his widow attended one of 
Mrs. Washington's state levees. The President personally brought 
her from and conducted her to her carriage, an honor much re- 
marked upon at the time. 

Mrs. Martha Stewart Wilson, eldest daughter of the brave 
Colonel Charles Stewart of New Jersey, had perhaps as constant 
knowledge of important movements and events during the Revo- 
lution as any woman in our State. Her father, at the head of an 
important department, on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, 
was almost from necessity acquainted with the principal officers 
of our army, and headquarters being often near her residence, she 
had frequent intercourse, in person and by letter, with him. She 
often entertained his military friends. Washington, LaFayette, 
Hamilton, Wayne, Greene, Gates, etc., etc. Washington often 
visited Mrs. Wilson. On the last occasion a year after Andre's ex- 
ecution. His approach with Mrs. Washington and his staff, under 
escort of a troop of horse, was privately ajinounced to Mrs. Wil- 
son in time to have dinner ready for a party of thirty or forty per- 
sons. Mrs. Wilson was but seventeen at the time of her marriage 
in January, 1776, and lived an active, energetic life until about 1850, 
and her letter to her adopted sons (orphans of her brother) dur- 
ing their college life, most clearly exhibit her lofty principles and 
sane views of life and character. 

Among the interesting anecdotes told by Mrs. Wilson in con- 
nection with Washington's visits to her home, was one of the 
"conversion" of Mrs. Cruft, a neighbor of Mrs. Wilson and an ar- 
dent Tory. On a morning of General Washington's departure 
from Mrs. Wilson's home, as usual on such occasions, a throng 
of persons eager to see the hero, surrounded the house. Mrs. 
Cruft sent a message to Mrs. Wilson requesting the privilege of 
seeing the General. Mrs. Wilson sent the reply that General 
Washington was surrounded by a crowd of officers, but suggested 
if Mrs. Cruft would remain in the hall he would soon pass through 
it. When Mrs. Cruft obtained a full view of the General's ma- 
jestic form and noble countenance, she burst into tears, uttering 



47 



her astonishment and emotion, and never after ranked herself 
on the Tory side. 

Of Mrs. Washington's last visit to Mrs. Wilson, we are told 
that she remained a day and night and spoke much with her hostess 
of housekeeping and domestic affairs. She showed Mrs. Wilson 
two dresses of cotton, striped with silk, manufactured by her do- 
mestics and worn by herself. The silk stripes were made of ravel- 
lings of silk stockings and old crimson damask chair covers. Her 
coachman, footman and maid were all habited in domestic cloth. 
In 1796 Mrs. Wilson, buying pocket handkerchiefs in a celebrated 
fancy store in Philadelphia, was shown some pieces of lawn from 
which Mrs. Washington had just purchased. The information was 
added that Mrs. W. paid six shillings for her own handkerchiefs, 
but paid as high as seven shillings for the General's. It was not 
alone for friends and persons of distinction that Mrs. Wilson kept 
open house in the Revolution. Her gates on the public road bore 
in large letters the inscription: "Hospitality within for all Ameri- 
can officers, and refreshment for their soldiers." 

Of Lady Washington's sojourn at the Wallace House, we read 
much of the social intercourse which abounded in the military 
community scattered through the valley. Of the General's obtain- 
ing from New Brunswick a table service of queensware, and six 
silver candlesticks. This old set of wedgewood, found by the help 
of Lady Stirling, would tell us many interesting tales if it could 
speak. We should hear of General and Mrs. Knox and their 
friendly contentions, for both were very fleshy, and tradition says 
Mrs. Knox always wanted to be thought smaller than her jolly 
husband, of the then brave Benedict Arnold, of gray-eyed Mrs. 
Greene who must often have neglected viands served on them in 
her efforts to rival young Alexander Hamilton at brilliant rep- 
artee. Many were the impromptu dances after Mrs. Washington's 
stately dinners. What a delight the winding Wallace House stair- 
way, overlooking the wide hall, was to flirting couples. We can 
imagine the "cherubic Miss Ricketts'" friend of General Living- 
ston's daughers, ogling over its thin balustrade in true Juliet fash- 
ion, at brave Captain Lilly, who was Mrs. Knox's pet Beau 
Brummel. 

The celebration in honor of the French alliance, of which we 
have often read, was the most notable social event of the year, 
given at Pluckamin under direction of General Knox. General 
Washington opened the ball with Mrs. Knox. A society reporter 
from the Pennsylvania Packet, who compares the lovely ladies of 
the Washington group to "a circle of brilliants," gives us a 
glimpse of the belles of that ball room in one of those descriptions 
which sometimes flash forth from the dry columns of an old news- 
paper. "There could not have been less than sixty ladies. Their 
charms were of that kind which gives a proper determination to 



the spirits and permanence to the affections. Is it that the women 
of Jersey by holding the space between two large cities, have con- 
tinued exempt from the corruption of either, and preserved a 
purity of manners superior to both?" If a Pennsylvanian could 
thus eulogize the fair women of Jersey, what must their own states- 
men have thought of them! 

After the ball came the stately good-byes, and in fancy we 
follow the Father of his Country, as he and his aids tuck some of 
the sleepy "jewels" into their coaches. Now over the Somerset 
highway they fly with only the fading stars to light them to the 
Wallace House. It is still standing as they found them to the 
quaint interior has been restored by patriotic men and women of 
New Jersey, and that company of long ago would know it if they 
came trooping back to-day. 

Time fails me to mention the long list of important names of 
the women of Somerset county, and I will close with acknowledg- 
ments to Mrs. Ellett and Mr. Mills. 



The Fashions of the Day. 

By MRS. CORNELIUS A. WHITENACK. 
If we are to believe the old French ballad — 

"From our Mother Eve's invention 
Of the very first farthingale, 
To Fashion's last intention, 
'Tis a dream-like passing tale. 

"Brief is each mode's existence. 
But Beauty is always here; 
Its change is still persistence 
Through dead-modes of yester-year. 

"V faith, each week had its fashions. 
From Eve's to the days that are here; 
But when are those passing passions. 
The dead modes of yester-year?" 

Only in the store house of memory shall we find them, these 
"dead modes of yester-year." Let us lift the lid of the heavy cedar 
chest and turn the key in the wardrobe's rusty lock; let us rum- 
mage among these "passing passions," breathing of lavender and 
rose leaves. Plainly they stand before me, these "brave 
men and ladies fair." of the good old days of '76. In fancy we hear 

49 



the rustle of brocade, we catch a glimpse of a tiny buckled shoe, 
and is it only fancy that a trifle of powder from my lady's hair 
has fallen in our eyes, so that we see, not with the eyes of to- 
day, but behold instead a vision of long ago? 

We indulge in the hope that our great grandmothers were 
properly thankful for the enduring qualities of both materials and 
fashions. Intelligence from England upon the caprices of dame 
fashion came at most irregular intervals, so the dear ladies could 
sip their tea and discuss the important subject undisturbed by 
thought of violent change. 

Thoroughly imbued with the customs of the mother country, 
the colonists were rigid in enforcing a sharp distinction of dress 
between the higher and lower ranks of society. For example, 
while calf-skin shoes were worn exclusively by the gentry, the 
servants had to content themselves with coarse "neats leather." 

Farmers, mechanics and working men were picturesque if 
homely, in red or green baize jackets, leather, or striped ticking 
breeches, and a leather apron. Sundays and holidays brought 
the welcome change of a white shirt in place of the checked one. 
The stiff leather breeches were greased and blackened, and the 
home-made cow-hide shoes were brave with huge brass buckles. 

Hired women wore short gowns of green or brown baize, and 
petticoats. In the cities and large towns, and on the Southern 
plantations, there was much luxury, and the wearing apparel was 
usually imported from England. Very comfortable indeed was the 
colonial gentleman in his morning costume of silk or velvet cap 
and dressing gown, while he shone resplendent in his evening 
dress of blue, green or purple flowered silk, or beautifully em- 
broidered velvet, enriched with gold or silver lace, buttons and 
knee-buckles. 

Over his shapely hands fell wide lace rufTles. The gold lace 
on his street cloak glittered in the sunlight, while a gold or sil- 
ver snufif-box, and a gold-headed cane were indispensable signs of 
his social position. This stately gentleman's long hair was white 
with powder, and was tied in the back in a twist or queue, with a 
black silk ribbon. His cocked hat was heavily laced; his silk 
stockings were either striped or black, and during the Winter 
months he prudently covered them with heavy woolen ones. His 
pointed shoes were adorned with buckles which varied in size ac- 
cording to the gentleman's inclination. 

Andrew D. Mellick, in his "Story of An Old Farm," tells us 
that General Washington's evening dress was said to have been of 
black velvet with knee and shoe buckles, a steel rapier, hair 
thickly powdered and drawn back from the forehead and gathered 
in a black silk bag adorned with a rosette. 

From Alice Morse Earle we learn that from the days of his 
early manhood, George Washington showed a truly proper, — I 

SO 



may say a truly masculine love of dress. After his marriage to a 
rich widow he showed equal interest in the dress of his increased 
family. Washington throughout his life never let affairs of state 
or war crowd out his love of rich attire, and in every order to 
England the instructions to secure the latest modes, the reigning 
fashions, were strenuously dwelt upon. 

Mrs. Earle continues: "Nor was he alone in this; other Rev- 
olutionary heroes were equally vain. Judges, doctors and mer- 
chants vied with each other in rich and carefully studied attire. 
It is a curious fact that while the letters written by colonial 
women seldom refer to dress, the letters of their husbands speak 
with no uncertain voice on the subject." 

* I wish space would permit me to copy some of these amus- 
ing extracts. I quote the following, ordered by George Washing- 
ton for his little step-daughter: 

8 pairs kid mitts. 

4 pairs kid gloves. 

2 pairs silk shoes. 

4 pairs Calamanco shoes. 

4 pairs leather pumps. 

6 pairs fine thread stockings. 

4 pairs fine worsted stockings.. 

2 caps. 

2 pairs ruffles. 

2 tuckers, bibs and aprons if fashionable. 

2 fans; 2 masks. 

2 bonnets. ., 

I cloth cloak. 

1 stiffened coat of fashionable silk, made to pack-thread stays. 
6 yards ribbon. 

2 necklaces. 

1 pair silver shoe buttons with stones. 
6 pocket handkerchiefs. 

Fancy this poor little tot of four years in kid mitts, a mask, a 
stiffened coat with pack-thread stays, a tucker, ruffles, bib, apron, 
necklace and fan! 

But the little step-son. Master Curtis, was not forgotten in 
this generous order to England. Having reached the mature age 
of six years he was fitted out with the following: 

6 pocket handkerchiefs, small and fine. 
6 pairs of gloves. 

2 laced hats. 

6 pieces India Nankeen. 

6 pairs fine thread stockings. 

SI 



4 pairs coarse thread stockings. 

6 pairs worsted thread stockings. 

4 strong shoes. 

4 pairs pumps. 

I Summer suit of cloth. 

I piece black hair ribbon. 

I pair handsome silver shoe and knee buckles. 

I light duffel cloak with silver frogs. 

Anne Green Winslow in her diary of 1771, tells us that she was 
dressed in a yellow coat, black bib and apron, black feathers on 
her head, paste comb, paste, garnet and jet pins, together with a 
silver plume, locket, rings, black collar, black mitts, and yards of 
blue ribbon, striped tucker and rufifle; pointed pompedour shoes 
completed this remarkable costume. 

I must confess that I approach the subject of my colonial 
lady's costume with much hesitation, not untinged with awe. By 
Revolutionary times love of dress everywhere prevailed, and one 
is bewildered by visions of gorgeous brocades, taffetas, rich silks 
almost stiff enough to stand alone, clouds of floating muslin, bril- 
liant silk petticoats, wide hooped skirts, jewels, streaming ribbons, 
and monumental head dresses. 

Space will not permit me to more than touch upon some of 
these wonderful costumes. I quote the following description of a 
ball dress worn by Mrs. Abigail Adams: 

"A white lutestring, covered and full trimmed with white 
crape, festooned with lilac ribbons, and mock point lace, over a 
hoop of enormous extent; there is only a narrow train of about 
three yards in length to the gown waist, which is put into a rib- 
bon upon the left side; treble lace ruffles, a very dressy cap with 
long lace lappets, two white plumes and a blonde lace handker- 
chief, two pearl pins in the hair, ear-rings and a necklace. Mrs. 
Adams' daughter's train is of white crape and trimmed with white 
ribbon; the petticoat is drawn up in what one called festoons, 
and is covered with light wreaths of beautiful flowers; the sleeves 
white crape, drawn over the silk, with a row of lace round the 
sleeve near the shoulder, another half way down the arm, and a 
third upon the top of the ruffle; a little flower stuck between; a 
kind of hat cap, with three large feathers, and a bunch of flowers; 
a wreath of flowers upon the head." 

We read of white satin petticoats worked in flowers, pearl satin 
gowns, and peach colored cloaks; white necks covered with deli- 
cate lawn, and gold chains carrying seals engraven with the owner's 
coat of arms. 

A very charming afternoon gown must have been the "deli- 
cate blue and white copper-plate calico, with a lutestring skirt 
flounced; a muslin apron and handkerchief; a fashionable cap and 

52 



straw ribbons upon the head and breast. A green morocco slip- 
per peeps from the blue lustring skirt." Another very gorgeous 
gown is "a sapphire blue demisasion with a satin stripe; sack and 
petticoat trimmed with broad black lace; crape flounces, etc.; 
leaves made of blue ribbon and trimmed with white floss; wreaths 
of black velvet ribbon spotted with steel beads. White ribbon in 
Van Dyke style made up the trimming." The cap worn with this 
costume is made without lappets, but has a wreath of blue flowers, 
and blue sheafs, two black and blue feathers. Other hats are 
trimmed up at the sides with diamond loops and buttons of steel, 
large bows of ribbon and wreaths of flowers. 

Before leaving the subject of head-coverings we must not for- 
get the Calash, of which a Yankee poet in 1780 wrote: 

"Hail, great Calash! 

O'erwhelming veil, 
By all indulgent Heaven 

To sallow nymphs and maidens stale. 
In sportive kindness given." 

This veritable sun shade, made usually of thin green silk, 
shirred on in strong lengths of rattan or whale-bone, and drawn in 
at the neck, made an admirable covering for the high-dressed and 
powdered heads. It was worn from 1765, throughout the century, 
and was frequently a foot and a half in diameter. 

At a sale of a large variety of women's apparel in Boston in 
1774 were twelve rich sacks and petticoats. In the receipt for 
Modern Dress, written at that time, we read: 

"Let your gown be a sacque. 

Blue, yellow or green, 

And frizzle your elbows 

With ruffles sixteen." 

The fashionable colors for sacques in 1774 were "new palish 
blue and dark lilac satin." They were trimmed down the sides with 
chenille or blonde laces, often furbelows, and some times were 
richly lined. At another sale we read of "Gauze or white or painted 
Tififany coats decorated with ribbon, heads or flowers; also 
sapphire, blue satin waists spangled with silver and laced down the 
back and seams with silver stripes; white satin petticoats trim- 
med with black and blue velvet ribbon." Also "a new parcel fine 
brocaded silks with white grounds, beautifully flowered with lively 
colors." Also "Rich Armozed Ground Brocaded, Flowered 
Brocade of Blue Ground and Pinck Brocade." 

Abigail Adams, writing in 1785, says: "Trimming is reserved 
for full dress only when very large hoops and. negligees with trains 

53 



three yards long are worn." Of course when the open sacques, 
negligees and paloneses were so much worn, and the petticoat 
so exposed to view, it became a most important and costly article 
of attire; it was furbelowed, fringed, festooned, puffed, looped, 
rosetted, flowered, laced and quilted, and was made of every rich 
material. 

Mrs. Adams writing to a friend in 1785, says she encloses 
patterns of a stomacher, cape and forebody of a gown; different 
petticoats are worn, but the stomacher must be of the petticoat 
color. 

In striking contrast to this brilliant glitter and display is the 
dress worn by the mother of Washington at the ball given at 
Fredericksburg, — a black silk gown, a snowy kerchief and cap. 
Again we see her on the memorable visit of Lafayette, working 
among her flowers in her garden garb of linsey skirt, the short 
gown we would call a sacque, and a broad brimmed hat tied over 
the plaited border of her cap. 

One likes to recall the plainly dressed lady who stepped from 
the coach at Pluckamin, and who was at first thought to be a ser- 
vant, until the idea was dispelled by seeing the warmth of General 
Washington's greeting. One can fancy the chagrin of the fine la- 
dies of Morristown, when on the memorable occasion of Martha 
Washington's visit to that village, arrayed themselves in all the 
glory of most elegant silks and ruffles, only to be met by her lady- 
ship in the plainest of gowns, and wearing a speckled homespun 
apron. 

In the conversation that follows, she lectures them gently upon 
the need of economy in these trying times of war, her knitting 
needles meanwhile clicking an accompaniment to the softly mur- 
mured rebuke. In the rural districts and small towns the subject of 
dress was often a most serious question. Nearly all the clothing 
was home-made, from the finest linen of the handkerchief to the 
woolen yarn for underclothing and stockings. 

Helen Evertson Smith, in "Colonial Days and Ways," tells us 
that the parson's preaching suit, black cloth, knee buckles and 
straight cut coat, might be made by some itinerant tailor passing 
from house to house during the Winter, and the sheer linen for 
his bands were probably imported from Holland; but all of his 
other garments, and those of most of the men in his parish, in- 
cluding the long knitted silk stockings, were of home manufacture. 
Every article of his apparel was grown and raised upon his own 
ground, tilled and cared for, harvested and cured, if it were flax, 
or sheared and carded if it were wool by his own hands or those 
of his employees. The spinning was always the work of the women, 
the weaving being done principally by men. Mrs. Smith tells us 
that tailors were so few that well-fitting coats and breeches must 
have been rare. She cites the case of one unfortunate student who 

54 



placed a piece of cloth with the tailor in the Spring, and by the 
time that potentate had seen fit to finish them, the garments had 
so far outgrown, that they had to be passed over to a younger 
brother, and the same thing was repeated twice, so that the poor 
student must have had an agonizing time in outgrown and out- 
worn clothing for the greater part of his college course. 

I have trespassed far beyond my allotted ten minutes, I fear! 
My only excuse is that on the subject of dress what woman is 
ever conscious of the passing of time? Let us close this very in- 
complete article on the dress and fashions of a bye-gone age to the 
tune of martial music, as it were. The Revolutionary soldiers of 
'76 knew little of neatness, or of the picturesque in dress. With 
the exception of an occasional military coat of ancient design, 
coarse hunting shirts, and rough linsey-woolsey suits were the rule 
for the first year or so of the war. I quote again from Mr. Mel- 
lick: 

"The clothing furnished the privates of the two battalions 
forming the first establishment of the Jersey line, called out by 
Congress of October, 1775, was to each man a felt hat, one pair of 
yarn stockings, and one pair of shoes. In addition of their monthly 
pay of five dollars, the privates received one hundred acres of 
land and an annual kit of clothing, consisting of two linsey-wool- 
sey knitting shirts, two pairs of overalls, a waistcoat of wool or 
leather, one pair of breeches, a hat or leather cap, two shirts and 
two pairs of hose and shoes. As the war progressed uniforms 
were adopted. I had always supposed that the Continental troops 
were uniformed in blue and bufif; these were the colors of the 
Commander-in-Chief, his staf?, and of many of the generals, but the 
prevailing uniforms of the rank and file were brown, blue and 
green, with trimmings of various hues." 

The temptation is strong to copy more of Mr. Mellick's most 
interesting descriptions, but I have already trespassed too long 
upon your patience. Let our closing picture then be the noble 
form of the beloved Commander-in-Chief, uniformed in blue and 
buff, with epaulets of bullion, varnished boots, ivory-hilted short- 
sword, and a three-cornered hat with a black cockade; he sits 
his bright bay with the grace and ease of a perfect horseman as 
he rides on and on to victory and liberty! 



55 



The Patterson House With a Glimpse of Some of Its 
Famous Visitors. 

By MISS E. GERTRUDE NEVIUS. 

There were several purchases of land in Somerset county by 
white men from the Indians. The first took in Bound Brook. 
The second took in Middlebrook, Chimney Rock and Somerville 
to the mountains as far as Pluckamin, and to the line of East and 
West Jersey, which runs between the Wallace House and the Mid- 
daugh House. The third purchase included all the land between 
the Wallace place on the east and the Patterson farm on the 
west, and extended north nearly to the village of Pluckamin. It 
was divided into six portions. Some had 600 acres, some 500, one 
660, one 1,900, and one had 7,600 acres. 

Dr. Messier says in his sketch of First Things in Old Soim- 
erset: "One of the very best plantations embraced in this pur- 
chase was owned at the opening of the Revolution by a lawyer 
named Pergrine Lagrange, who from conviction and choice took 
the part of the British government in the conflict which ensued. 
As a consequence his property was confiscated and sold at pub- 
lic auction. William Patterson was the purchaser." 

In Historical Collections of New Jersey it says: "About two 
miles southwest of Somerville, on the old York road, stands an 
antiquated mansion over a century old, now the property of Ferdi- 
nand van der Veer, Esq." 

Dr. Messier says that earlier in public life than General 
Frelinghuysen, was William Patterson, the second Governor of 
New Jersey after Independence. He is called one of the most 
talented men of his day. He was born at sea in 1745, and his 
parents brought him from Ireland when he was two years old. 
He graduated at Princeton in 1763. After purchasing the farm he 
attended to the business of the plantation, and at the same time 
practiced law in the office which stood near the roadside, and 
attended to the instruction of several students. He was ap- 
pointed in 1776 a judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, 
and elected Governor of the State in 1790 as a successor to Wil- 
liam Livingston, first Governor after the Revolutionary War. Pre- 
vious to this he had been a member of the convention to frame 
the United States Constitution, and Senator of the first Congress. 
The city of Paterson was named in his honor. The old house was 
built of stone, and Dr. Messier thinks it a great pity that it could 

56 



not have been preserved on account of its interesting memories. 
He called it a land mark. A house which so many popular people 
have occupied. Mrs. Van Rensaller, Governor Patterson's daugh- 
ter, wife of General Stephen Van Rensaller, was born and brought 
up there. She retained a vivid and grateful memory of her old 
home on the Raritan. After the death of her husband she pro- 
posed to buy it and make it her home, but her daughter per- 
suaded her to take them for a visit to France, and she only lived 
a short time after her return to Albany. Such men as Aaron 
Burr, General Morton, of New Jersey, and John Young Noell, 
studied law there; also probably General Frelinghuysen, Andrew 
Kirkpatrick and George M. Troup, Governor of Georgia. The 
General was twice married. His first wife was a connection of the 
Coejman family. His second wife was the widow of a soldier who 
was shot ofif his horse in the Revolutionary War. His name was 
Phillips. Dr. Messier speaks of her in very high terms. Said she 
was a very religious woman and an extremely useful person in the 
time of the war, knitting stockings and doing other things for the 
comfort of the soldiers who were spending the Winter at Mor- 
ristown, Middlebrook and other places suffering for food and 
clothing. He places her alongside of JefTrow Hardenbergh in her 
benevolent ministrations to our soldiers. 

At the time of Governor Patterson's death at New Brunswick, 
September 9, 1806, he was a judge of the Supreme Court of the 
United States. 

New Jersey claims his memory as one of her most honored 
and cherished possessions, and the county of Somerset enrolls him 
with pleasure among her great men. 



57 



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